Long before Moo Deng, D.C.'s celebrity hippo changed America's zoos
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A pygmy hippo with calf "Omega" at the National Zoo in 1973. Photo: Courtesy of Smithsonian Archives
Long before Moo Deng mania, another baby hippo took the world by storm: D.C.'s own William Johnson "Billy" Hippopotamus, who was gifted to President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s.
Why it matters: In the world of celebrity hippodom, Billy walked so Moo Deng could run.
The big picture: Moo Deng (Thai translation: "bouncy pig") and Billy are both rare pygmy hippos, a smaller, semi-aquatic breed that's native to West Africa but endangered in the wild.
- They both became global celebrities for their feisty personalities and tubby, moist-chic look (now coveted by TikTok skincare influencers).
Flashback: Exotic presidential pets were big back when — credit trendsetter George Washington and his camel. But President Calvin Coolidge and wife Grace took things to Ark-like levels, filling the White House with dogs, cats, geese, songbirds and a donkey.
- In the most Mississippi move ever, a southern supporter gifted the Coolidges a raccoon for their Thanksgiving dinner. They adopted it as a pet instead, and "Rebecca the White House Raccoon" became a Washington sensation.
Between the lines: Sadly, the White House Thanksgiving raccoon pardon never caught on.
Flash forward: The Coolidges eventually gifted Rebecca to what's now the National Zoo. To fill the raccoon-size hole in the nation's heart, world dignitaries sent a variety of exotics to the first family — lions, a cinnamon bear, "Smoky Bob" the bobcat — most of which were sent to the zoo.
- Billy came to Washington in 1927, when rubber baron Harvey Samuel Firestone gifted him to the Coolidges from his plantation in Liberia.
- Clocking in at 6 feet and 600 pounds, the pygmy hippo was one of only eight in the U.S.
What they're saying: Once gifted to the zoo, Billy made "a host of friends," according to an enamored New York Times reporter, who observed that the hippo "was as frisky as a dog."
- "Even the antics of the monkeys go unobserved when the keeper opens the tiny hippo's cage and cuts up with him," wrote the Times.
Zoom out: Before Billy's arrival, it was typical for zoos to showcase an animal until its death and then replace it, according to the Smithsonian.
- But Billy was so valuable that the zoo procured a mate, Hannah, to breed more pygmies.
Sadly, mating didn't start well. Two calves died and Hannah trampled another. (The Smithsonian points out that Hannah wasn't a bad mom — the hippos were housed in the lion enclosure at the time, which was likely terrifying.)
- But eventually, Hannah bred a healthy calf, Gumdrop. And the pygmy parents started a new era of wildlife conservation in zoos — a practice that continues to this day, especially for vulnerable species like pandas.
Fun fact: In 1940, the zoo procured another mate, Matilda (cue this Washington Post headline: "Pygmy Hippo to Become Polygamist"). The hippo throuple sired 18 offspring together — all called Gumdrop, followed by a Roman numeral.
- Gumdrops were sent to zoos around the country. According to the Smithsonian, most pygmy hippos in America today are Billy's descendants.
Billy passed away in 1955, and the last pygmy hippos left the National Zoo in 2009. But Billy's legacy lives on at zoos across the country, in art, film, literature and beyond.
- And if you need your Moo Deng fix in person, you don't have to go far. Metro Richmond Zoo's got a "confident, brave, and spunky" lookalike named Petunia.
Go deeper: Meet Moo Deng's American counterparts
