Pink notebook at Cerza Zoo near Lisieux, in Calvados. A pygmy hippopotamus was born on August 20th. The animal park made the announcement on his Facebook page Saturday. And it’s a girl! “Nyande, our female pygmy hippopotamus, has given birth to a baby hippopotamus,” the zoo said, adding that the mother and daughter are doing very well but “need some quiet time.” “They are not yet visible in the outdoor enclosure, but you can see them through the window of the hippo house,” the facility warned.
What do they look like?
Measuring 140 to 160 cm long and 80 cm high as adults, they have in common with the “classic” hippopotamuses this massive appearance, but have a rounded back with the hindquarters higher than the withers. Herbivorous, solitary, nocturnal, it lives alone, or rarely in a group with a female and a baby, explains the scientific site specializing in the climate emergency Natural sciences. Its head is a little rounded. Its eyes, equipped with valves like its ears, are located on the side. It is a semi-aquatic animal. As for its teeth, they are less developed than those of its larger cousins.
An endangered species
If this birth is good news for the establishment and its visitors, it is also good news for the species. Because the pygmy hippopotamus, also called pygmy hippopotamus, which is found in many zoos around the world, is however an endangered species. Discovered only in the 19th century, the exploitation of forests, clearing for agriculture, armed conflicts, poaching for meat and sometimes ivory teeth, specifies Natura sciences, have considerably reduced its population which today only numbers between 2,000 and 3,000 individuals.