What Child Is This? — Manuela Hoelterhoff

Dec 27

Dec 27 What Child Is This?

It’s a girl. The Metro Richmond Zoo in Moseley, Virginia received a delightful early Christmas present this year: 16 pounds of pygmy hippopotamus.

That’s what she weighed at her first neonatal exam, three days after she came into the world on December 6, to Iris and Corwin. The zoo issued the birth announcement on the 22nd and has yet to name the baby girl.

“The calf has been nursing and is growing quickly,” the zoo said. “Iris and her baby currently reside in a super cozy, hay-bedded enclosure that is off-exhibit. This gives privacy to mom and baby while they bond. Soon, they will be moved into the indoor pool area that is visible to guests so the baby can start swimming.”

Within days the infant had put on another eight pounds. When fully grown, she can expect to weigh up to 600 pounds.

With fewer than 2500 adult pygmy hippos (Choeropsis liberiensis) left in the wild, the species is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. They can be found in West Africa in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

And now there’s one more in Virginia. Welcome to Earth.

Watch the baby in action while 1950s child star Gayla Peevey sings her classic “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” here: youtube.com/watch?v=XRy_CWL8nSA.