絶滅危惧種「コビトカバ」の赤ちゃん、ＳＮＳで話題 タイ

【チョンブリＡＦＰ＝時事】タイ・チョンブリ県の動物園にいるコビトカバの赤ちゃん。動物園側がインスタグラムとティックトックに動画を投稿したところ、その愛くるしさで一躍話題の動物となった。（写真は、タイ・チョンブリ県の動物園で、生後２か月のコビトカバ「ムーデン」を見る来園者）
　赤ちゃんは生後２か月の雌で、名前は「ムーデン」だ。ＡＦＰが動物園に取材に訪れた時、ムーデンは朝日を浴びながら、つやつやした肌に太陽光を反射させ、地面に伏してのんびりと過ごしていた。
　「コビトカバの写真をネット上で見る人が増えるにつれて、好きになってくれる人も多くなっている。野生のコビトカバは密猟の対象になっているため、大勢の人がコビトカバのことを気にかけてくれれば密猟を防げるかもしれない」と動物園の飼育員は話した。
　コビトカバは絶滅危惧種で、国際自然保護連合（ＩＵＣＮ）によると、その個体数は世界で２０００～２５００頭しかいないという。ムーデンに注目が集まることで、さまざまな絶滅危惧種に対する関心の高まりが期待される。
　ムーデンを見るため動物園を訪れた客は「コビトカバが絶滅危惧種だということは知らなかった。最近のＳＮＳの投稿で、野生のコビトカバの数が少なく、絶滅の危機に瀕していると知った。だから保護してほしいと思う」と話した。
　動物園側は、今回のムーデンのブームで収益が出た場合、柵の修繕や、啓発キャンペーンの予算として充てたいとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/09/27-18:59）

The morning sunlight bouncing off her sleek hide, Moo Deng the pygmy hippo plops to the ground in her enclosure, seemingly unfazed by her rapid rise to social media stardom.
The two-month-old pint-sized creature went viral this week after her handlers posted videos of her on TikTok and Instagram from her home at a zoo in Chon Buri, Thailand.
Her cheeky expressions and playful frolicking racked up millions of views and have lured thousands of visitors wanting to witness her antics.
Moo Deng -- whose name in Thai means bouncy pork, a popular snack -- is now an unwitting poster child for the endangered pygmy hippo.
The fame has not gone to Moo Deng's head, as she sticks close to her mother, sharing a meal of carrots, bananas, corn and runner beans.
Native to West Africa, the pygmy hippo is threatened by human activities, such as logging, mining and poaching, and there are only 2,000 to 2,500 left in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Hundreds of visitors queued at the zoo for five minutes in the enclosure.
One group said they woke up at 5:00 am to make the two-hour drive from Bangkok to see the celebrity.
A visitor said she hoped more Thais would come and post about Moo Deng online so that more people will come to see her.
Moo Deng's caretaker and social media manager Atthapon Nundee, 31, said the rise of short-form videos has turbocharged the pygmi hippo's fame and hopes it will be a boon for biodiversity preservation.
With more and more images of pygmy hippos online, more people fell in love with them. They are poached in the wild, so with more people caring about them, it might prevent their poaching, he told AFP.
A 2022 study published by the Royal Society of Canada's Academy of Science shows that social media can play both positive and negative roles in wildlife conservation.
Public attention may help raise awareness about endangered wildlife but can increase the risk of species exploitation as more people try to come in contact with them.
Zoo management says the extra earnings from skyrocketing visitor numbers -? almost double over the weekend -- will go towards improving the pygmy hippo enclosure and the zoo's public awareness campaigns.
The zoo also plans to launch a line of Moo Deng merchandise next month.
Pygmy hippos are not native to Thailand, but zoos have a duty to lead in wildlife conservation outside natural habitats, zoo director Narongwit 'Wit' Chodchoy, 52, told AFP.
So it's our mission to perpetuate the species for as long as possible.