Petunia, a 2-month-old pygmy hippo, has started swimming with her mother Iris at the Metro Richmond Zoo. Hippo calves have a natural instinct to swim but keepers lowered the water levels in the pool so the baby’s head could stay above the water.
An adorable baby hippo at the zoo in Richmond recently got a name, Petunia, and video shows she’s practicing her swimming — a sign that she’s reaching her age-appropriate milestones.
The pygmy hippo calf was born in early December at the Metro Richmond facility and keepers describe her as brave, confident and spunky. Petunia enjoys getting her energy out by splashing in the water and running around her enclosure, zookeepers said.She was named last month after more than 18,000 people participated in voting on a selection of eight possibilities.
Hippo calves have a natural instinct to swim but keepers lowered the water levels in the pool so the baby’s head could stay above the water. Gradually, as Petunia is getting more comfortable with playing in the water, they’re raising the water levels so she can “bob around more.”Petunia spends her days with her mom in the indoor pool area and most mornings she heads straight into the water, her caretakers said.“She’s a very confident hippo,” said Mariah Megginson, a zookeeper.
Pygmy hippos are smaller than a common river hippo and they’re considered to be more rare. They’re native to parts of West Africa and are an endangered species, as there are fewer than 2,500 of them in the wild as of 2015, according to zookeepers in Richmond.Their population has been hurt by several factors, including predators like crocodiles, leopards and pythons.
For now, caretakers said Petunia will stay with her mom for at least a year. The facility is working on building a new, larger hippo exhibit and they will decide later if Petunia stays in Richmond or goes to another facility as part of a nationwide breeding program for pygmy hippos.
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