Animal instinct: TikTok’s celebrity culture has come at a cost

The antics of Moo Deng, a four-month-old pygmy hippo at a Thai zoo, have made her the latest internet sensation. She has countless fan pages, four songs dedicated to her, a 24-hour live stream, as well as a makeup line in her honor. The social media craze around Moo Deng also brought to light Amara, a pygmy hippo in London Zoo; Biscuits, a seal in Canada; Pesto, a penguin in Melbourne; Hujan, a baby elephant in Malaysia; and Hua Hua, a panda in China. Each of them has fans asserting their “cute aggression” and the need for more updates on their everyday lives. 

But such popularity seemingly comes at a cost. These cases have reignited the debate around the ethics of keeping animals in captivity. One can recall Lolita, the orca, who died last year after five decades at the Miami Seaquarium; Harambe, the gorilla who was shot in Cincinnati Zoo after a boy fell into his enclosure; Flocke, the lonely polar bear at Nuremberg Zoo; and many such examples of animals that have spent much of their lives in an enclosure. 

While increased visibility of endangered species, like pygmy hippos, results in a spike in revenue for zoos and aquariums – aimed at improving their well-being and conservation – there’s the question surrounding how these establishments capitalize on the social media craze.

“Zoos primarily deal with three aspects of conservation – practice, advocacy and research,” says Indian conservationist Latika Nath, who was involved in facilitating the joint conservation program between Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy and the San Diego Zoo for the Northern White Rhinos project.

“Conservation practice entails captive breeding, species reintroduction programs, species survival plans and the use of zoo revenue for conservation programs in the wild,” Nath says. “Advocacy involves public engagement, promoting awareness, advocating stewardship, and fundraising events and schemes – a good example of which is the ‘Adopt an Animal’ scheme at most modern zoos. Research is conducted on wildlife biology, population dynamics, animal behavior, health and welfare; there are also publications generated by zoos on animal care and captivity.”

The perks of viral fame

It’d be safe to assume that the great majority of social media users today know what a pygmy or dwarf hippo is, thanks to Moo Deng. The 24-hour live stream from the zoo feeds her thousands of fan pages to keep viewers tuned in to check whether she’s charging at her caretakers or battling it out with her basin again. Daily attendance at Khao Kheow Open Zoo has risen from 600-700 to massive crowds of more than 30,000 people, who queue up for hours to catch a glimpse of the hippo. 

Within three weeks of Moo Deng’s birth, zoo director Narongwit Chodchoy said the public’s fascination with her had led to a 50% increase in their visitor numbers. The zoo is believed to have earned 11 million baht ($320,700) since her birth, and projects a total revenue exceeding 200 million baht this financial year. They also sell a plethora of merchandise on Moo Deng, thereby bringing in more revenue.

But there’s more to Moo Deng than the cash flow and people she brings in. The zoo has cashed in on her fame to spread awareness about pygmy hippos – experts say fewer than 3,000 of them remain in the wild. Besides educating visitors, the zoo shares information about their unique traits and conservation status, which has further highlighted the importance of preserving these animals and the zoo’s efforts. Moo Deng’s 24-hour live stream has also drawn attention to the live streams of other animals at Khao Kheow, bringing into focus various species, their natural behaviors, habitat needs and more.

Moo Deng & Co. – her distant buddies

London Zoo, which has its own pygmy hippo, Amara – a three-year-old moved from Edinburgh Zoo in 2023 – has taken advantage of Moo Deng’s popularity to raise awareness about endangered species and efforts to boost their population through the European Breeding Programme (EEP) and Edge of Existence recovery efforts of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). In fact, Amara was transported to London after being matched with a hippo named Thug through EEP. 

“As a conservation zoo that’s also part of global charity ZSL, we’re working to create a world where wildlife thrives,” says Alex Kemsley, senior press officer at London Zoo. “Inspiring people to love nature is the first step to creating change – a responsibility we take seriously. We saw a marked interest in stories about pygmy hippos on our digital platforms, but our visitor surveys this year revealed that visiting a good zoo for a day out was our primary visitor driver.”

The world’s also glued to updates from Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, where Pesto, a baby king penguin, has begun to shed the brown feathers the birds are born with. Born in January, Pesto grew to become far larger than his parents, towering over them, and soon had the world glued to his clumsy waddling. 

“We’ve seen record-breaking visitor numbers, with attendance up by an impressive 50 to 70% compared to our usual figures,” shares a spokesperson for Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium. “His popularity has also sparked our highest-ever website visitation, with record hits on two separate days. We have had higher visitation and some big celebrity names through the door, but the most important part of this is the conversations Pesto has begun.”

“Pesto’s rise to fame has meant that millions of people feel like they know a king penguin and are, therefore, connected to him. This encourages learning more about penguins and their environment, so they are more likely to feel connected to future conservation initiatives, helping us raise awareness of climate change and generally being more engaged global citizens,” the spokesperson added. “An increase in awareness and visitation means an increase in our ability to further fund conservation here at the aquarium and also enable us to play a bigger part in important global initiatives, too.”

The psychology of animal celebrity culture

Accounts that share content related to pets, wildlife and animal conservation garner substantial interaction and boast millions of followers, illustrating the broad interest in animal content across social media. More recently, social media has surfaced as a driver of wildlife narratives. 

Recent evidence suggests that anthropomorphism –the attribution of human characteristics to an animal – isn’t all that bad. “It may, in fact, be important to embrace emotional attachments to wildlife because it incentivizes people to care, thus helping conservation in the long run,” says Nath.

“Anthropomorphising wildlife can help conservation by bolstering a sense of place – people feeling connected to their local landscapes. Studies have shown that having this sense, especially at a young age, encourages people to make more environmentally friendly decisions later in life. Connecting and empathizing with wildlife in your neighborhood can make you more likely to recycle, plant pollinator gardens or support local conservation initiatives in the future,” she explains.

Take the sloth, for example. Viral videos have sparked new interest in this otherwise ignored species. Actor Kristin Bell professed her love for the slow tree-dwelling mammals with her famous 2012 meltdown on the Ellen Show, which then inspired a wave of “sloth love” and raised funds for conservation. Would people have cared about sloths before in quite the same way had there not been a trigger for their viral fame? 

It’s also been seen in science that naming a study animal and building a story around it can push for a conservation movement. P-22, a lone mountain lion that frequented Griffith Park in Los Angeles, for instance, attracted a massive following of dedicated fans. His popularity had helped drive funding for the Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing, the largest corridor of its kind.

Moreover, it’s not only captive, bred or rehabilitated animals that become icons. Tigers like Machli, Sita, Charger, Collarwali, or Munna who live across India’s tiger reserves attract safari-goers in droves, which leads to the generation of millions in revenue through tourism. This further helps tiger conservation efforts by raising funds and awareness using these big cats.

The flip side and social media

“Confined solitary lives, with forced exposure to visitors, is one of the greatest evils of zoos and one that needs to be acknowledged and changed,” says Nath. However, the traditional role of zoos is evolving in modern times, and they can be viewed as centers of conservation. “Zoos can influence conservation on site and in local communities. They can also work at national and international levels to coordinate breeding programs and share animals, genetics, skills, and knowledge.”

This brings us back to Moo Deng and her global posse. In every case, the zoos have witnessed an uptick in foot traffic and general interest in the species, thereby indicating that being among the internet’s favorite baby animals does come with its perks and a better chance of their numbers growing in the future.