India, Aug. 3 -- In a moment that has melted hearts across the internet, a baby pygmy hippo named Mars refused to get out of a pond at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Kansas - until his mother stepped in with a look that needed no words.

A now-viral video shared by the zoo on TikTok shows caretakers gently trying to coax Mars out of the water. Despite repeated attempts and plenty of encouragement, the playful calf wasn't having it. It wasn't until his mom arrived and gave him what zookeepers jokingly called "the mom stare" that Mars suddenly changed his mind and began to cooperate.

The humorous standoff quickly went viral, with nearly 35 million views on TikTok and even more attention across platforms like X (formerly Twitter), where users ...