New Baby Hippo at Cincinnati Zoo

A baby hippopotamus (hippo) was born at the Cincinnati Zoo last Wednesday night. The new baby hippo is Fiona’s sibling, a famous hippo that was born prematurely in 2017.

The new baby is twice as heavy as Fiona was when she was born. It’s already walking, too.

Staff at the Cincinnati Zoo learned in April that the baby’s mother, 23-year-old Bibi, was pregnant. They were surprised because Bibi was on birth control.

Christina Gorsuch, the director of animal care at the Cincinnati Zoo, says that Bibi and her baby will bond in private and away from other hippos for the next two weeks. In the wild, a mother takes her newborn away from other hippos, so the zoo wants Bibi to do what feels natural.

When Bibi’s first baby, Fiona, was born, it weighed only 29lbs (about 13kg). Fiona was born six weeks premature and couldn’t stand without help. Now, Fiona weighs 2,000lbs (about 900kg).

After Fiona was born, she went viral on the internet and more people visited the zoo. However, some animal rights groups were unhappy that the zoo used the animal in marketing.