Child hippo born at U.S. zoo

Fifties’ baby star Gayla Peevy’s plea for a “hippopotamus for Christmas” got here true for one Virginia zoo.

The Metro Richmond Zoo welcomed the delivery of a pygmy hippopotamus in time for Christmas, in response to a Dec. 22 information launch from the zoo.

The cute new child was born on December 6, says the discharge. The yet-unnamed child was born to folks Iris and Corwin after a 7-month being pregnant.

The child is the second pygmy hippo born ever in Virginia, in response to the zoo. And he or she’s rising quickly. She weighed in at 16 kilos at delivery, and per week later was already 24.2 kilos. As an grownup, she may weigh as much as 600 kilos.

The zoo described Iris as “an skilled mom and really caring of her child.” Mom and child are presently in a personal “tremendous cozy, hay-bedded enclosure.” However quickly company will be capable to spot the brand new addition when the pair transfer into the indoor pool space, says the zoo.

Pygmy hippos are categorized as endangered by theInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are lower than 2,500 grownup pygmy hippos left within the wild in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.