Pygmy Hippo Born at San Diego Zoo
An important addition to the population of the world’s smallest species of hippo was made at the San Diego Zoo on Wednesday morning (Nov. 11). The youngster, weighing just 12 pounds, 2 ounces (5.5 kilograms), was born to its mother, Francesca, in the early hours of the morning. Mom and calf are doing well—and they are taking some quiet time in a barn out of the public eye, until keepers think the youngster is ready to try the larger pool available for swimming in the main exhibit area.
This is the first surviving hippo birth at the San Diego Zoo in more than a decade. Pygmy hippos are an endangered species from the forests of West Africa. There were estimated to be about 2,000 left in the world a decade ago, when the last population survey was done. Since then, political unrest, habitat destruction and wildlife trafficking in their native habitats are likely to have reduced the wild population to critically low numbers.
Pygmy Hippo Born at San Diego Zoo
An important addition to the population of the world’s smallest species of hippo was made at the San Diego Zoo on Wednesday morning (Nov. 11). The youngster, weighing just 12 pounds, 2 ounces (5.5 kilograms), was born to its mother, Francesca, in the early hours of the morning. Mom and calf are doing well—and they are taking some quiet time in a barn out of the public eye, until keepers think the youngster is ready to try the larger pool available for swimming in the main exhibit area.
This is the first surviving hippo birth at the San Diego Zoo in more than a decade. Pygmy hippos are an endangered species from the forests of West Africa. There were estimated to be about 2,000 left in the world a decade ago, when the last population survey was done. Since then, political unrest, habitat destruction and wildlife trafficking in their native habitats are likely to have reduced the wild population to critically low numbers.