Viral hippo Moo Deng predicts who will win US election
With the polls so unclear, attention has turned to a beloved zoo animal in Thailand who has predicted the winner of the 2024 US election.
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With the US election on a knife-edge, attention has turned to the weirder ways of predicting a winner.
According to the latest polls, the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former US President Donald Trump is about as close as it can get.
Famed pollster Nate Silver said today that Ms Harris is every so slightly more likely to win the election.
As the dark art of polling isn’t giving us a clear answer, some have turned to animals instead.
And it’s no surprise because people have been using animals of varying sorts, including birds and chickens, to practice divination since ancient times.
The latest to be rolled out is Thailand’s famous pygmy hippopotamus, Moo Deng.
Moo Deng lives at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in the Chon Buri province.
Zoo workers allowed her to “predict” the winner of the election by providing two melon cakes and letting her choose.
On each cake was the name of the presidential candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Moo Deng went straight for the melon with Trump’s name on it.
Only time will tell if she is right.
Of course there was plenty of reaction online, where Moo Deng is a viral sensation.
“Moo Deng has been jailed for illegal voting and election interference,” one person quipped.
“Moo Deng betrayed us all!” another wrote.
“I never trusted that hippo,” a punter joked.
Others were happier with her prediction.
“Let’s hope Moo Deng is right,” a Trump fan wrote.
Fox News reports that Moo Deng, whose name translates to “Bouncy Pig” or “Bouncy Pork,” is a pygmy hippopotamus, an endangered species.
Pygmy hippopotamuses are found in West Africa, mainly Liberia, according to the Pygmy Hippo Foundation’s website.
There are about 2000 pygmy hippos remaining in the wild.
The pygmy is about half as tall (0.7 metres) as a standard hippo, and weighs about a quarter as much.
- with Fox News
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Originally published as Viral hippo Moo Deng predicts who will win US election
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