Virginia Zoo’s Latest Addition Is a Baby Pygmy Hippo

Check out Mu Deng, there’s a new baby pygmy hippo in town. Virginia’s Metro Richmond Zoo announced the arrival of a healthy-looking female calf born earlier this month.

The hippo calf was born on December 9 to parents Iris and Corwin after a seven-month gestation. Zoo statement. The unnamed cub is the parents’ third calf in less than five years, and the second to appear just before the holidays. A successful birth is a particularly important event because the pygmy hippo is a endangered species in the wild

Pygmy hippos (Choeropsis liberiensis) is one of only two living hippo species left in the world, the other being the common hippo (Hippos are amphibians) as their name suggests, pygmy hippos very small than their cousins. Adult pygmy hippos can weigh between 400 and 600 pounds, compared to adult common hippos. weight At least 3,000 pounds (male common hippos can weigh three times as much).

That said, pygmy hippos are still fat—even from the start. The Metro Richmond Zoo calf weighed 15 pounds five days after it was born — or about twice the weight of a normal human newborn. So far, everything seems to be going smoothly, as the baby is nursing and growing fast.

From Pesto the penguin to Kirby, the Houston Zoo’s bug-eyed elephant calf, the public’s recent frenzy over children’s zoo animals may draw attention to zoos.

The Metro Richmond calf is one of several pygmy hippo calves that have made headlines this year, as well Nameless calf At the Attica Zoological Park in Athens and Edinburgh Zoo haggis. The most famous hippo calf of the day, Mu Deng, became an internet sensation virtually overnight and faced its fair share Insulting, throwing objects at fans at his home zoo in Thailand.

“Most people don’t get hippos for Christmas, so we feel lucky that we get two year after year,” the zoo said in its statement. statement birth announcement

Iris and “Niu Deng” (trademark pending) have been moved to a private hay-filled enclosure for now, which will allow them to bond properly, zoo officials said. Eventually, the calf will move into the zoo’s publicly viewable indoor pool exhibit, where it will likely appeal to fans eager for more baby hippo content.

Pygmy hippos are much less aggressive than their common cousins, who are known to kill Hundreds of people annually In the wild, therefore, there is little concern about uncontrolled killing of baby hippos.

Unlike common hippos that live in herds, pygmy hippos usually live alone or sometimes in pairs as adults. Once the newborn calf is fully grown, the zoo plans to move her to another park or sanctuary where she can pair up with a potential mate and hopefully have offspring of her own as part of ongoing conservation efforts.

Both hippo species are encountered population problem Some parts of Africa they call home. But the condition of pygmy hippos is more serious; Approximately 2,500 pygmy hippos still exists In the wild, compared to more than 120,000 common hippos. So as meme-able as this latest calf may become, its arrival is also critical to ensuring the species’ long-term survival.

Meanwhile, the Metro Richmond Zoo is already hard at work running PR for its hippo star. Today, the zoo announced a public poll to decide on a new name for the calf from four available options: Poppy, Juniper, Hammy May and Omi. Voting, which closes on December 31, can be viewed (and voted on) here.