2 weeks Ago
Unless you have been in hibernation for the past few weeks you may have noticed that making the news has been the two-month-old female pygmy hippopotamus Moo Deng (Bouncy Pork) which has been attracting large crowds to Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri. The little hippo, which acquired its name due to its "bouncy" behaviour has become an internet celebrity and indeed, an international star. She even made a guest appearance on the BBC World news.
This may all seem a bit over the top but Moo Deng is regarded in Thailand as nah rak (cute) even though she would not win any beauty contests. Most importantly the hippo is a welcome relief from all those boring political reports and depressing tales of war. Calling the Thai hippo "an A-list celebrity" Time magazine headlined its report: "She's an Icon, She's a Legend, and She is the Moment.
" I hope the visitors to Khao Kheow don't overlook the presence of another celebrated hippo that resides there. Mae Mali (Mother Jasmine) is the oldest hippo in Asia and has just celebrated her 59th birthday. For most of her life Mae Mali lived at the old Dusit Zoo in Bangkok but moved to Khao Kheow when the zoo closed in 2018.
It seems an appropriate moment to acknowledge The Hippopotamus Song by Flanders and Swann, which was a hit in Britain when I was a kid back in pre-historic times. The ditty featured hippos having fun down by the river and contained the memorable refrain "Mud, mud, glorious mud". Let's hope there is plenty of glorious mud for Mali and Moo Deng to wallow in.
Moo Deng is not the first zoo hippopotamus to create a stir. When a hippo was first introduced to London Zoo in May 1850 it proved a big star attracting 10,000 visitors a day. There was a brief outbreak of "hippomania" in England and even Queen Victoria showed up with her children to view this exotic creature.
Another visitor was Charles Dickens who called it an "illustrious stranger" but thought there was too much fuss being made over it. The animal even inspired a song with the most unlikely title of Hippopotamus Polka. The sheet music carried a wonderful illustration of a young lady dancing with a well-dressed hippo.
The hippo was named Obasych after the island on the White Nile in Egypt on which it was captured. The Egyptian authorities allowed the British to keep him in exchange for some greyhounds. According to our Hippo correspondent the hippopotamus name is derived from the ancient Greek "river horse".
I am also reliably informed that the plural is "hippopotamuses'' rather than "hippopotami" which may be of interest to Scrabble devotees. Mae Mali would have been four years old when the Beatles' Abbey Road was released and this week the album is marking its 55th anniversary, a frightening thought. It was the last album the Beatles recorded, but released before Let it Be.
In addition to the iconic cover Abbey Road is one of the most accomplished Beatles productions. I had been in Thailand just six months when it came out and recall first hearing Something on a Bangkok FM radio station, while living in a wooden house on Sukhumvit Soi 1, adjacent to Khlong Saen Saeb. That station was my main source of western music and the 700 baht transistor radio my most prized possession.
Something has since been recorded by just about everyone -- more than 150 versions in all -- many of them quite bland. But the original, written and sung by George Harrison, still sends a little shiver down the spine. John Lennon reckoned it was the best song on the album, which is good enough for me.
Abbey Road has been responsible for many travellers getting lost in England over the years. According to police, more than a dozen tourists turn up every day in London at the Docklands Light Railway station called Abbey Road, mistakenly thinking it is the same place as the cover on the album. The real Abbey Road is in St John's Wood, about 15km to the west of the docks.
This still doesn't deter tourists from trying to recreate the Beatles' memorable cover by posing on the much less impressive pedestrian crossing outside the docklands station. London Transport felt obliged to put up posters at the station explaining to fans that they are in the wrong place. The misguided mystery tour doesn't end in the docklands.
According to staff at Liverpool Street railway station, which despite its name is in central London, tourists regularly show up asking for walking directions to John Lennon's house, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. Well, it's only a 370km stroll up the road. Back to zoo news.
Sometimes you wonder who should be in the cages -- the animals or the people who are gawking at them. In London Zoo some years ago a deranged gentleman jumped into the bear pit, pulled down his trousers and invited two giant Russian bears, called Rusty and Tumble, to dance with him. The bears were completely bemused by this exhibitionist and after deciding not to eat him for supper turned away and went back to sleep.
An irate zookeeper remarked: "Rusty and Tumble were disgusted. They've got no time for flashers." Contact PostScript via email at oldcrutch@hotmail.
com.
