Baby hippo to join the zoo

A young male hippo is to leave its mother in Limpopo – itself born at the Joburg Zoo – and make a new life with its grandparents in the city of gold.
A BABY hippo is expected to arrive at the Johannesburg Zoo today, tipping the hippo scales to three.

An addition to the hippo familiy at the zooAn addition to the hippo familiy at the zooThe 13-month-old is leaving its parents in Mokopane, in Limpopo, to join its grandparents in Johannesburg as part of the zoo’s breeding programme for the endangered species.

It will join Raoul, aged 15 years, and 16-year-old Jellybean. The two joined the Joburg Zoo in 1997, coming from zoos in the Netherlands and Germany.

In 2002, they produced Naboo, a female hippo. It was sent to a National Zoo conservation farm in Mokopane on breeding loan at the age of four.
Naboo was paired with a 30-year-old male and in July 2010, it gave birth to the young male hippo which is joining the zoo. The young male is the second generation of hippos born through the Joburg Zoo – and plans to find it a mate are already under way.

“The Joburg Zoo would like to thank the National Zoo for caring for this young male and we look forward to future success in this joint breeding programme,” says Candice Segal, the zoo’s marketing assistant.

The animals are pygmy hippos, which can give birth every two years. These types of hippos live in the forest and are swamp inhabitants, in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Cost. Pygmy hippos are herbivores; they feed on aquatic plants and vegetation that has fallen on the forest floor.

They are solitary by nature. In the wild they usually live in singly or in pairs; but when pygmy hippopotamuses are found together, it is usually a male and female consorting before mating. Females avoid each other by marking their territory with dung. This type of behaviour is not rare in captivity, and the hippos are known to chase their keepers out of their enclosures.

Previously declared endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red Data list, their status has changed to vulnerable because of conservation efforts and breeding programmes in zoos.

It is thought that only 2 000 animals are left in protected and unprotected areas in West Africa. The reasons for the low number are deforestation, bush meat trade and human persecution.

Pygmy hippos can live between 35 to 45 years in zoos and become sexually mature at three to four years. At birth, they weigh approximately six kilos, but they grow to 180kg to 260kg and get to 80cm tall.