Extreme animal love! Woman flies halfway around the world for baby pygmy hippopotamus

Thailand - Several days of travel and thousands of dollars were invested by a New Yorker just to experience a cute TikTok trend live.

Molly Swindall (30) fell in love with baby pygmy hippo 'Moo Deng' at the start of the internet fame.

This became an overnight viral sensation when her keepers at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand, her birthplace, began posting the hippo's funny moments in short clips.

"I'm absolutely in love with this shiny, juicy potato," Swindall, 30, told the New York Post.

She took her first trip to see the cute animal on October 2 - she spent a total of 21 hours on the road, 18.5 hours of which were spent on a plane, all to spend just 30 hours in Thailand.

This trip cost her around 1100 dollars (approx. 1020 euros). She documented her trip on TikTok, where she also posted videos of the cute baby animal.

But the animal lover didn't just visit Moo Deng, whose name means "jumping pig".

Less than two weeks later, she traveled to Melbourne, Australia, to see the "little wiggle king" Pesto, a heartbreakingly cute baby penguin and another viral internet sensation.

After seeing Pesto on October 11, she even flew to Bangkok a second time the next day because she "missed Moo Deng so much".

She spent a total of 50.5 hours traveling to see the two cute baby animals. On her second trip, she also had the opportunity to explore Bangkok, which she described as the highlight of her "magical and surreal" experience.

"The only thing I would change is to be able to stay longer," she told The Post about her emotional adventure.

"It was really sad to leave, especially when I realized that Moo Deng will probably be an adult the next time I see her."