Toronto Zoo welcomes new baby pygmy hippopotamus
The Canadian Press | Posted: August 21, 2018 11:47 AM | Last Updated: August 21, 2018
Kindia, 12, gave birth to a female calf on Friday and baby now feeding well
The Toronto Zoo is celebrating the birth of a rare and endangered pygmy hippopotamus.
Kindia, a 12-year-old female, gave birth to a female calf on August 10 at 10:52 p.m.
The baby hippo weighed 5.48 kilograms the day after she was born. Not yet named, she weighed 8.7 kilograms (roughly 19 pounds) as of Tuesday morning. She is said to be nursing from her mother regularly.
The zoo says the species is endangered and there are only about 2,000 to 3,000 left in the wild in West Africa — mostly in Liberia. Small numbers of the animal are also found in neighbouring Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.
Over the past 100 years, the pygmy hippo's habitat has declined dramatically due to logging, farming and human settlement, according to the zoo.
"As deforestation continues and their habitat becomes more fragmented, newly accessible populations are coming under increasing pressure from hunters," the zoo said in a news release on Tuesday.
First 30 days critical for calf
While the calf appears healthy and is feeding well, the zoo says the first 30 days are critical for both mother and calf.
Kindia arrived at the Toronto Zoo from a zoo in France in June 2016 as part of a global breeding program. This is Kindia's first surviving calf and the seventh birth of a pygmy hippopotamus in the Toronto Zoo's history. The calf was sired by Harvey, a 23-year-old male.
Now in maternity area, not visible to public
Kindia and her baby are in a maternity area within the pygmy hippo habitat where video cameras are set up to monitor the pair. They are not visible to the public at this time. The zoo said wildlife care staff will keep a close eye on Kindia and her calf.
The zoo will hold a contest to name the baby hippo later this year.
The zoo said it is part of the pygmy hippopotamus species survival plan, which aims to establish and maintain a healthy, genetically diverse population of this species.
Through what it calls keeper awareness events and the Toronto Zoo Endangered Species Reserve Fund, the zoo said it supports hippopotamus conservation efforts in the wild.
"Conservation efforts for endangered species has no boundaries and the more we work together internationally helps improve our chances of saving incredible animals like the pygmy hippo," Maria Franke, curator of mammals at the Toronto Zoo, said in the release.
"Partnering with our colleagues by bringing Kindia over from France to mate with our male hippo has allowed us to strengthen the genetics of the global population."