【1996 Archives】

A hot new hippo bombshell has entered the internet's virtual villa —996 Archivesshe's coming for Moo Deng's crown.

If that sentence sounds completely ridiculous, well, it's because it is. But Edinburgh Zoo has a baby pygmy hippo named Haggis, and the zoo is taking on Moo Deng, the viral hippo that captured the internet's heart over the past couple of months.

The Edinburgh Zoo threw some shade at Moo Deng in a tweet announcing Haggis' birth.

"Moo Deng? Who deng?" it wrote. "Introducing… Haggis [...] Otto and Gloria have welcomed an ADORABLE pygmy hippo calf! She is doing well, but we’ll be keeping the hippo house closed for the time being so that our expert keepers can keep a close eye on mum and baby at this sensitive time."

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Personally, I wonder why we must pit these two queens against one another. The world is big enough for two adorable pygmy hippo babies.

• Moo Deng sucks, actually
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• Of course there's a Moo Deng memecoin. And of course it's pumping (until it stops).
• 'SNL' Weekend Update: Bowen Yang as Moo Deng as Chappell Roan on the pitfalls of sudden fame
• Why we’re all in love with a little hippo named Moo Deng

But Edinburgh Zoo, seemingly in an attempt to have Haggis to be the next viral animal, has leaned into the anti-Moo Deng bit. They made lots of jokes in their replies, and It even issued a Notes app apology, a nod to the common celebrity move after making a mistake.

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The move has seemingly worked. The original post about Haggis' birth has racked up 12,000 likes and 1 million video views in just six hours. Edinburgh Zoo might've called the beef off with Moo Deng, but perhaps Haggis will be a viral star after all.