Endangered pygmy hippopotamus born at a Virginia zoo and you can help name her

Move over, Moo Deng.

A Virginia zoo got a hippopotamus for Christmas because only a hippopotamus would do.

A female pygmy hippopotamus calf was born at the Metro Richmond Zoo in early December, marking the third calf of the endangered species to be born at the zoo in the last five years, officials said.

The mother hippo Iris gave birth to the yet-to-be-named calf on Dec. 9 and the zoo is currently holding a contest to name the new calf.

A whopping 14,000 people flocked to vote on a potential moniker, and the options have been narrowed down to Poppy, Juniper, Hammie Mae, and Omi.

The baby girl is the river horse’s third calf shared with her current mate, Corwin.

Iris keeps to a schedule. The new hippo is the second she has given birth to in December, according to the zoo. All three of her offspring have been female as well.

“Most people don’t get a hippopotamus for Christmas at all, so we feel lucky to have received two over the years,” zoo officials said in a news release Tuesday — in a nod to the famous holiday tune.

The new baby had a neonatal exam and weighed in at 15 pounds, a mere fraction of the 600 pounds officials say fully grown pygmy hippos can boast.

Hippos are usually a naturally polygamous species, but it’s been slim pickings for the pygmies over the last few decades.

When the hippo was declared endangered in 2015, there were only about 2,500 mature ones left, and even then officials were pulling that from a 1993 population estimate, according to the Zoological Society of London.

“This birth – like all of Iris’ births – plays an important role in helping protect this rare and elusive species. Unlike common hippos, pygmy hippos do not live in groups and are usually solitary or in pairs. For this reason, once Iris’ two previous calves grew up, they were moved to other zoological facilities to live with future mates and continue contributing to the conservation of their species,” the zoo wrote in the news release.

Earlier this year, another baby pygmy hippo took the internet by storm. Moo Deng, a newborn at a zoo in Thailand with a penchant for trying to bite people, captured the hearts of people far and wide and became one of the most prolific memes of the year.