The San Diego Zoo Announced The Birth of An Endangered Pygmy Hippo and I’m In Love

This is so exciting! I am living for happy news lately and this is most definitely happy news! The San Diego Zoo has announced a new addition!

A male pygmy hippopotamus was born on April 9th! This is the first successful birth of its kind at the zoo in over 30 years!

The mother of this sweet little bundle is named Mabel and she is 4 years old. The little guy weighed 12.4 pounds. A baby hippo is called a calf, like a baby cow.

Mom and calf are doing very well, they said – and the calf is nursing and getting lots of attention from the first-time mother.

San Diego Zoo Global said in a statement.

The little guy still doesn’t have a name! What do you think he should be called? He is already growing like a weed and is now 25 pounds.

The specialists taking care of him say he is meeting and surpassing all of the milestones that he should! He has even been going underwater like a big boy.

Right now they are in a private maternity habitat. In about a month, mama Mabel and Baby will be able to go to the main habitat. When that happens they will rotate the daddy out and take turns.

Elgon is the name of the father. He won’t be introduced to the calf because pygmy hippos don’t live in family groups. So basically all of the pygmy hippo mamas are single mamas.

The pygmy hippos are endangered. In the wild, they live in the forests of West Africa. Sadly there are less than 2,500 pygmy hippos in four African countries. This is due to farming, human settlements in their environment, and also because of logging.

I can not wait to watch this cutie grow and I sure hope they give him a name soon. For now, I will call him Steve.