Does a zoo need hippos?

[Zooplantman]

So I've heard a few people say they aren't fans of expensive underwater viewing. I think it is a useful educational tool to show how the animal acts underwater, I would much prefer an exhibit that is elevated and looks out onto a hippo pond and beach. Take for example San Diego zoo's hippo exhibit, if you scrap the underwater viewing you can enlarge the pool and the beach. Give it an elevated path and now people can observe the hippos and the Okapis in a much easier and visually appealing way. An elevated path would also help push the idea that the area is more like an African swamp which would work well with the foliage of the area. But you get my point (I hope), a nice elevated Hippo exhibit when done right can look much better than a mediocre Hippo exhibit with underwater viewing.

Setting aside the likelihood of any zoo that invested in underwater viewing"scrapping" the system, or how doing so would open up more space for the pool or beach... Cincinnati would never have created the Fiona fandom without the underwater view of her.

 

[Junklekitteb]

Sucks to be North Americans. Don't think too much of that in Indonesian zoos.

As Batto said earlier, since Indonesia is pretty tropical and resembles hippos’ natural habitat much more than most zoos in Europe or North America, it is natural that exhibiting them is more difficult.

I guess I won't be visiting Australian zoos anytime soon.

Well that’s sad, guess you will miss out on all the endemic monotremes, marsupials, passerines, parrots, anatids, snakes, geckos, agamids, skinks, frogs, fish, insects and other animals that are not kept anywhere else…

 

[Emanuel Theodorus]

As Batto said earlier, since Indonesia is pretty tropical and resembles hippos’ natural habitat much more than most zoos in Europe or North America, it is natural that exhibiting them is more difficult.

Well that’s sad, guess you will miss out on all the endemic monotremes, marsupials, passerines, parrots, anatids, snakes, geckos, agamids, skinks, frogs, fish, insects and other animals that are not kept anywhere else…

Eh. As long as those zoos don't have hippos I don't care.

 

[birdsandbats]

How many zoos have underwater viewing where you can actually see anything rather than just cloudy water? I've seen nice hippo underwater viewing at Saint Louis and Milwaukee, but at Toledo the viewing was awful.

 

[Zooplantman]

How many zoos have underwater viewing where you can actually see anything rather than just cloudy water? I've seen nice hippo underwater viewing at Saint Louis and Milwaukee, but at Toledo the viewing was awful.

Perhaps that was due to short term conditions. In the past the water was reasonably clear. Cincinnati, San Diego and others provide clear water. But how crystal clear does it need to be (that's a LOT of feces to filter out!)

 

[TheMightyOrca]

How many zoos have underwater viewing where you can actually see anything rather than just cloudy water? I've seen nice hippo underwater viewing at Saint Louis and Milwaukee, but at Toledo the viewing was awful.

The San Antonio Zoo hippo exhibit was always clear enough when I went there. What I really like about it is that they have fish in the water, and you can see the fish eating gunk out of the hippos' mouths, it's really cool.

 

[BerdNerd]

I like hippos and I think they’re cute, but I feel like I shouldn’t dislike or not visit a zoo just because it doesn’t have hippos. In my opinion, zoos don’t need hippos, or any one particular species for that matter, in order for me to like it.

 

[GiratinaIsGod]

It's more of a bias for me, but zoos with no Nile Hippo exhibits will never truly be my favorite.

Agreed. Imagine settling on the inferior Pygmy hippos.

couldn'T disagree more, the pygmi hippo is the superior choice, they are rare, acctually cute need a breeding pogram and are superor in every aspect

 

[evilmonkey239]

I like hippos and I think they’re cute, but I feel like I shouldn’t dislike or not visit a zoo just because it doesn’t have hippos. In my opinion, zoos don’t need hippos, or any one particular species for that matter, in order for me to like it.

Exactly. The title of this thread is “does a zoo need hippos?”. What if it’s a small zoo, that doesn’t have the space or the budget to display hippos properly, or a zoo in Alaska or another climatically unsuitable location? Those zoos definitely don’t need a three-ton tropical mammal— and shouldn’t get them for practical reasons.

 

[Sphenisciologist]

It’s a hit or miss for me.

Both species are threatened in the wild, so having either is a good step in the right direction.
Pygmy hippos however are much more at risk of extinction and lesser known than common hippos (hence the name), so that’s a bonus.

I still have yet to see a pygmy hippo in person.

 

[Aardwolf]

My bias has been towards pygmy hippos just because of their history - I love the story of their discovery and the controversy that the caused in scientific circles. Another thing is social grouping - pygmy hippos are mostly solitary, which works out well, but having seen a herd of Nile hippos in the wild, I have a hard time being impressed by most zoos having a pair or at most a trio of hippos on display.

I saw some artwork earlier this year about the proposed new site for the Sacramento Zoo, and one of the illustrations showed an exhibit with 12 or so Nile hippos. Now THAT I would love to see.

 

[Simon Harding]

I think the real reason so many zoos aren't prioritizing hippos is the cost/space of life support system. My local zoo doesn't keep hippos (nor does any zoo in New England- barring pygmys at Franklin), but I was talking to one of the zoo staff who said they got a tour of Saint Louis' hippo exhibit. Apparently, the hippo exhibit itself is a very reasonable size, but the life support/water filtration equipment takes up four times the space of the habitat. That is a HUGE amount of space to dedicate to just one exhibit, and unless a zoo has a lot of space I'm not sure how they can justify dedicating so much space to life support/water filtration equipment for one exhibit. It's also something for zoos in cold areas that what are you going to do with hippos in the winter? Pygmys can live indoors year-round (like at Franklin Park Zoo), but Nile hippos really need an outdoor exhibit. That is a really big animal to figure out winter holdings for- including a large pool. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not aware of a single zoo that has indoor viewing to their hippo barn, meaning your dedicating lots of space and money to an animal that can only be viewed for half the year.

Longeat Safari Park in England has had two Hippos (called Spot & Sonia) in its lake, since it opened in the late 1960’s.
Spot & Sonia are outside 24/7 all year round, & there are many photos of them on the banks of the lake in the snow!. I’ve never understood how they “appear” to live completely wild, without any added warmth or skin care during our British winters. I would love to find out how they managed to thrive so well, & have not been able to find much information about them.
I visited them often during my childhood in the 1970’s -‘80’s, but unfortunately am now disabled, & as you have to go on one of the short boat trips around “Half Mile Lake” to see them, it’s unlikely that I ever will again.
If anyone has any information on Spot & Sonia, I would love to hear it! Thank You .

 

[zoologicus]

Longeat Safari Park in England has had two Hippos (called Spot & Sonia) in its lake, since it opened in the late 1960’s.
Spot & Sonia are outside 24/7 all year round, & there are many photos of them on the banks of the lake in the snow!. I’ve never understood how they “appear” to live completely wild, without any added warmth or skin care during our British winters. I would love to find out how they managed to thrive so well, & have not been able to find much information about them.
I visited them often during my childhood in the 1970’s -‘80’s, but unfortunately am now disabled, & as you have to go on one of the short boat trips around “Half Mile Lake” to see them, it’s unlikely that I ever will again.
If anyone has any information on Spot & Sonia, I would love to hear it! Thank You .

I did some digging and learned that Spot and Sonia, both females, were born in Uganda in 1974 and arrived at Longleat in 1976!

This may not be a surprise to anyone else but me, but I read that they were housed at one point (if not currently) with sea lions, the young of which would sometimes land on the hippo's backs! I had to see this very unusual combination for myself to believe it: Hippo & Sealion

Thank you for introducing me to these fascinating individuals!

 

[Zoofan15]

I did some digging and learned that Spot and Sonia, both females, were born in Uganda in 1974 and arrived at Longleat in 1976!

This may not be a surprise to anyone else but me, but I read that they were housed at one point (if not currently) with sea lions, the young of which would sometimes land on the hippo's backs! I had to see this very unusual combination for myself to believe it: Hippo & Sealion

Thank you for introducing me to these fascinating individuals!

It sounds like Longleat could give a few of the Australasian zoos a lesson on how to keep hippos alive for more than 30 years.

Re. California sea lions @csartie. It gets better than that. On Longleat Zoo’s TV series a keeper once mentioned a young sea lion was seen resting in the hippo’s gaping mouth. The keeper feared it was all over, but the sea lion launched itself back out without incident. Their sea lions seem to have a high mortality rate, so whether a few others haven’t been so lucky I don’t know.

Presumably the cohabitation with sea lions is the reason Longleat don’t have bull hippos - though the average female is by no means docile.

 

[Tim May]

Presumably the cohabitation with sea lions is the reason Longleat don’t have bull hippos....

Longleat has had male hippos in the past and several young have been born there.

 

[Tim May]

If anyone has any information on Spot & Sonia, I would love to hear it! Thank You .

I did some digging and learned that Spot and Sonia, both females, were born in Uganda in 1974 and arrived at Longleat in 1976!

Longleat has had male hippos in the past and several young have been born there.

Further to my earlier post, I have checked both the European Hippopotamus Studbook and the excellent book “A Survey of the Hippopotamus in Captivity in the British Isles” (John Frost; 1996).

You might be interested that both "Spot" and "Sonia" had two calves each at Longleat, as follows:-

"Spot"

• Male "Invincible" born ?? Sept 1982**
• Male "Harvey" born 13th Oct 1983

"Sonia"

• Male "Nautilus" born 25th Sept 1982
• Male "Walley" born 4th Sept 1984

** There is a slight discrepancy on the date "Invincible" was born. John Frost"s book gives 18th September 1982 whilst, according to the studbook, it was ten days earlier on 8th September 1982. I don't know which is correct. (The two sources agree exactly about the other three dates of birth.)

NB John Frost's book doesn't use the name "Sonia" he refers to this individual as the "Big Female" but it's clearly the same animal.

 

[zoologicus]

Further to my earlier post, I have checked both the European Hippopotamus Studbook and the excellent book “A Survey of the Hippopotamus in Captivity in the British Isles” (John Frost; 1996).

You might be interested that both "Spot" and "Sonia" had two calves each at Longleat, as follows:-

"Spot"

• Male "Invincible" born ?? Sept 1982**
• Male "Harvey" born 13th Oct 1983

"Sonia"

• Male "Nautilus" born 25th Sept 1982
• Male "Walley" born 4th Sept 1984

** There is a slight discrepancy on the date "Invincible" was born. John Frost"s book gives 18th September 1982 whilst, according to the studbook, it was ten days earlier on 8th September 1982. I don't know which is correct. (The two sources agree exactly about the other three dates of birth.)

NB John Frost's book doesn't use the name "Sonia" he refers to this individual as the "Big Female" but it's clearly the same animal.

Thank you so much for sharing this! Do you have any further information on these calves? Are any still living elsewhere?

 

[Tim May]

Thank you so much for sharing this! Do you have any further information on these calves? Are any still living elsewhere?

Sadly none of these four hippo calves are still alive.

"Harvey" was the longest lived of the four; he died at West Midlands Safari Park on 1st February 2002.

The other three were very short lived animals and "Nautilus" was killed by the bull "Nigalo" (the father of all four calves) the day after he was born.

 

[Chimpangeek]

Nile Hippos are a great species to exhibit, but I concur with a lot of what's been said about the challenges that come with exhibiting them.
1. They're expensive to maintain, particularly in colder climates
2. They should be kept in larger groups
3. They're difficult to keep with other species.

I'm in favor of Pygmy hippos becoming more commonplace. They're significantly more endangered, they can be kept with other species, and due to their more terrestrial lifestyle, they don't require massive bodies of water like their larger cousins.

 

[bio1022]

Relatively off-topic but does anyone know of a zoo that keeps a large group of common hippo's rather than just the usual 2/3?