MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A pygmy hippo at a zoo in Thailand has become an internet sensation. Steve, you know about this?
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
No. Apparently, I've been watching the wrong memes.
MARTIN: Clearly. So social media - there are many videos of this unbearably cute little baby hippo...
INSKEEP: Aw.
MARTIN: ...Eating, playing and gnawing on her keeper's leg famous enough to earn the hippo, who's been named Moo Deng, her very own skit on "Saturday Night Live" from the comedian Bowen Yang.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
BOWEN YANG: (As Moo Deng) For the past 10 weeks, I've been going nonstop, running around, eating lettuce, trying to bite the hose from a water - the water from a hose.
(LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: I wonder how they decided in the meeting beforehand who gets to play the hippo.
MARTIN: Oh, I think it was a pretty clear choice. So the skit makes the point in a funny way, of course, that all this viral celebrity can have a downside.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
YANG: (As Moo Deng) It has come to the point where I need to set some boundaries.
(LAUGHTER)
COLIN JOST: (As character) Oh, you need to set boundaries?
YANG: (As Moo Deng) Reminder - women owe you nothing.
(LAUGHTER)
YANG: (As Moo Deng) When I'm in my enclosure, tripping over stuff, biting my trainer's knee, I am at work.
INSKEEP: And afterward, you need a meal. You're a hungry, hungry hippo. Anyway...
MARTIN: No, exactly.
INSKEEP: Go on. Go on.
MARTIN: OK. All right, so here's the thing. The videos sometimes show visitors throwing food or water at the hippo in her enclosure. Dan Ashe is president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and he says the frenzy over Moo Deng has kind of gotten out of hand.
DAN ASHE: The interest has become so severe that people are disturbing the animal in its habitat.
MARTIN: So to protect Moo Deng, the zoo had to set up security cameras and warn people they could be in legal trouble for harassing the hippo.
INSKEEP: ...Violating the Hippocratic oath (laughter).
MARTIN: All right.
INSKEEP: Go on. Go on.
MARTIN: OK, this isn't the first time a zoo animal or even a hippo has gone viral. A river hippo named Fiona was so popular a few years ago she drew more than a million dollars in donations for the Cincinnati Zoo.
INSKEEP: Wow.
MARTIN: But Dan Ashe says Moo Deng's popularity can also help promote conservation for endangered animals, like Moo Deng's species.
ASHE: I think it's important for people to connect with nature, and it's increasingly difficult for us to do as increasingly urban beings. There are great opportunities to do it, but it needs to be done respectfully, ethically and with the interests of the animals at heart.
MARTIN: So, Steve, connect with the cuteness. Connect with the cuteness.
INSKEEP: OK. I'll do that.
MARTIN: Like, open yourself up to the cuteness.
INSKEEP: I am open to the cuteness...
MARTIN: There's a bigger purpose here.
INSKEEP: ...As long as it's in, like, an accredited zoo.
MARTIN: Exactly...
INSKEEP: You know, it's a place that's proper.
MARTIN: ...An accredited zoo.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
MARTIN: And don't throw stuff at the animals.
INSKEEP: Exactly.
MARTIN: Do we even need to say it? I don't think we do.
INSKEEP: Apparently, we do.
MARTIN: All right.
INSKEEP: OK. Well, anyway, there you have it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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