Any zoos with both Asian elephants, black rhinos, and pygmy hippos?

Alex Roman

Well-Known Member
When people think of elephants, hippos, and rhinos, they think of Africa, home to two species of each, but they are more likely to think of the African elephants, especially the bush variety, Nile hippo, and the white rhino.

Personally, I like the pygmy hippo because something about them makes them look more hippo-ey and the black rhino because of its almost tortoise-like snout, especially if seen from the front. I do also like Asian elephants as well because of their uniqueness. To be fair, I like all animals myself, but my real question is what zoos have Asian elephants, pygmy hippos, and black rhinos, not in the same enclosure, but all three reside somewhere in separate parts of the zoo.
 
Taronga Zoo - who have an extensive history with Asian elephant and Pygmy hippopotamus, held Black rhinoceros as recently as 2006; but have since only housed rhino at their open range sister zoo.

It is indeed a rare combination and for good reason. Pygmy hippopotamus are suited to small city zoos; which in turn are unsuitable for Asian elephants and Black rhinoceros. Any zoo that’s large enough to house the latter two would likely house Common hippopotamus rather than Pygmy hippopotamus - Taronga Western Plains Zoo (and soon to be Werribee Zoo) being examples.
 
A lot of near misses, particularly in Europe, but fairly rare as can be seen by @Coelacanth18's figures. Some of the close ones include:

Chester - Has the rhinos and the elephants, not the pygmy hippos (yet?). Won't be losing either of the ones they have anytime soon given their lovely exhibits so it might just be a matter of time before they have all three.
Taipei - Have the elephants and the hippos but White rhinos instead of Black rhinos.
Pairi Daiza - Same as Taipei.
Beauval - Both hippos, but African elephants and White rhinos.
Doue - Rhinos and hippos, no elephants.
 
In the U.S. there are many zoos that have two of the three, but like @Coelacanth18 said, it seems like Miami is the only one with all three.

San Diego - has both hippo species, and Asian elephants, but has Indian rhino not Black.
Houston - has pygmy hippo and Asian elephant, but has white rhino not Black
Denver, Busch Gardens, St Louis, Honolulu, Fort Worth and Cincinnati - have black rhinos and Asian elephant, but have river hippo instead of pygmy.
Little Rock - has black rhinos and Asian elephant, but no hippos.
 
Ueno Zoo in Tokyo has all 3 species, although the Asian elephants are in the opposite end of the zoo from the black rhinos and pygmy hippos.
 
I could have sworn Whipsnade had all three, but it seems they’re missing black rhinos. They definitely would have the accommodation for them, I suppose it’s more a question of availability.
 
The Singapore Zoo has 2 out of the 3 species - we have the Asian elephants and pygmy hippos but are missing out on any black rhino species (we only have white rhinos!). :<
 
Chester - Has the rhinos and the elephants, not the pygmy hippos (yet?). Won't be losing either of the ones they have anytime soon given their lovely exhibits so it might just
If current plans haven't changed they should be getting pygmy hippos at some point as it was part of their masterplan.
 
Chimelong safari park has all 3. I aren't sure if the black rhino are still on displayed (for the other park), but they have them at the same time in the last few year. They still have white rhino and common hippo in the safari ride though. Asian elephant and pygmy hippo are definitely on display.
 
I could have sworn Whipsnade had all three, but it seems they’re missing black rhinos. They definitely would have the accommodation for them, I suppose it’s more a question of availability.
Whipsnade had Black Rhino up to around 15 years ago, they were without Pygmy Hippo for a while though at roughly that time so not sure exactly when they last had all three.
In the 1980s they still had African & Asian Elephant, Pygmy and Common Hippo and 3 species of Rhino.
 
Whipsnade had Black Rhino up to around 15 years ago, they were without Pygmy Hippo for a while though at roughly that time so not sure exactly when they last had all three.
In the 1980s they still had African & Asian Elephant, Pygmy and Common Hippo and 3 species of Rhino.
That’ll be why I thought they had them. It seems Whipsnade have always been pachyderm juggernauts!
 
The only zoo I can find in North America that has all three is Zoo Miami, which is also a rare zoo with both Asian and African elephants.

Going through ZTL, I was able to identify four European zoos with that mix: Berlin Zoo, Krefeld, Leipzig, and Diergaarde Blijdorp (Rotterdam).

I visited Zoo Miami in 2008 and all 3 species were present then (a long time ago now!), but I also visited Berlin, Krefeld and Blijdorp in the summer of 2019 and I saw all 3 species at each of those 3 zoos. It is interesting that Leipzig has the 'trio' and I'll have to make my way there on my next big trip. ;)
 
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