Hippos in Major American Zoos

MKE Zoo guy said:
Recently I just stumbled upon the AZA recommendation for housing river hippos. The thing that I noticed was that any new exhibits must be able to hold 4 to 8 animals and the ability to bred. Although nothing has been mentioned about pre-existing exhibits, anyone know if the requirements have been changed for those?

https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...de12e13dd0409ca/1576809455445/River+hippo.pdf
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savetherhino said:
Would that make Milwaukee's inadequate
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So this is the TAG recommendation and isn't entirely binding when it comes to actual AZA regulations. There aren’t any current animal care manuals for hippos so there aren’t any specific binding regulations regarding hippos.
 
Echobeast said:
So this is the TAG recommendation and isn't entirely binding when it comes to actual AZA regulations. There aren’t any current animal care manuals for hippos so there aren’t any specific binding regulations regarding hippos.
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Though not binding, isn’t this a strong indication on where the AZA is heading? I’m curious on what does it mean for existing exhibits, or what is the current standard for housing hippos?
 
MKE Zoo guy said:
Though not binding, isn’t this a strong indication on where the AZA is heading? I’m curious on what does it mean for existing exhibits, or what is the current standard for housing hippos?
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I honestly doubt it means much of anything for an existing habitat.
 
Echobeast said:
So this is the TAG recommendation and isn't entirely binding when it comes to actual AZA regulations. There aren’t any current animal care manuals for hippos so there aren’t any specific binding regulations regarding hippos.
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As it is the TAG recommendation one must wonder how it will affect that group's advice to SSP coordinators and studbook holders. So if an existing facility that cannot house this population loses an animal, will they be able to obtain a breeding age new one? For that we must wait and see
As very few current exhibits can meet this requirement, I can't help thinking that this is how the road to rethinking elephant exhibits began. And we knew where that went.
 
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snowleopard said:
The book that I cowrote, titled America’s Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums, contains reviews and photos of 80 zoos and 20 aquariums. There are 22 out of the 80 zoos that currently display common hippos, which isn’t that surprising as the species costs a small fortune to maintain in captivity. (Also, Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey has an all-indoor exhibit for common hippos)

Two major criticisms of common hippo exhibits can be leveled at American zoos. First of all, the recommendation of maintaining a herd of hippos (3 or more) has largely been ignored entirely. That’s in stark contrast to many European zoos, where larger groups of hippos are sometimes in mixed species exhibits with a variety of antelope. Secondly, the amount of grazing space given to hippos in American zoos is almost nonexistent in some cases. Again, European zoos are ahead here, with some zoos across the Atlantic giving hippos far more land space. That being said, each zoo that has underwater viewing of hippos offers visitors a spectacular experience.

The 22 zoos that have common hippos:

ABQ BioPark
Busch Gardens**
Cheyenne Mountain
Cincinnati**
Dallas**
Denver
Disney’s Animal Kingdom**
Fort Worth**
Honolulu**
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Memphis**
Milwaukee County**
Philadelphia
Saint Louis**
San Antonio**
San Diego**
San Francisco
Sedgwick County**
Toledo**
Topeka
Woodland Park (although they are likely to phase hippos out in the near future)

Los Angeles and San Francisco no longer have hippos.
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I know some people might hate me for this, but here are my Top 5 Worst Common Hippo Exhibits:
1.) Denver Zoo
2.) Cincinnati Zoo
3.) Sedgwick County Zoo
4.) Topeka Zoo
5.) Kansas City Zoo
 
RhinoHippoElephantGiraffe said:
All except Sedgwick County.
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Sedgwick County's is actually a decent size, and was among the first (if not *the* first zoo) to have underwater viewing for their hippos. Only downside to their habitat is the holding area (those concrete walls + howling prairie winds...) and the pool being a dump and fill system.

Past that, while the facilities may not be up to par, the keeper-staff truly are doing God's work for these animals and the viewing public.
 
StoppableSan said:
Sedgwick County's is actually a decent size, and was among the first (if not *the* first zoo) to have underwater viewing for their hippos. Only downside to their habitat is the holding area (those concrete walls + howling prairie winds...) and the pool being a dump and fill system.
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Great observations.
Past that, while the facilities may not be up to par, the keeper-staff truly are doing God's work for these animals and the viewing public.
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I am not sure we can really use that as a bar of quality zoo's - I have honestly only met a couple AZA zoo staff/keepers that are not super dedicated. That statement really applies to pretty much all of the keepers I have encountered.
 
Something I have noticed is that Nile hippos, being regular ABC zoo animals, don't tend to be a species brought back to a zoo after previously being phased out, probably due to the massive expenses for keeping and maintaining them. Besides exhibit renovation periods and very brief periods without them (e.g replacing the previous hippo that died with new ones within months), only five of the nineteen remaining zoos in the book with Nile Hippos have acquired their first Nile Hippo(s), or brought them back after a "long" absence (I'd say after more than five years without them) in the past half-century. This goes to show how dedicated a zoo needs to be to continue with Nile Hippos, as in most cases, once the last one no longer lives at the zoo, they probably aren't going to bring them back, at least at this day in age. I put the list below to show you how long these zoos have held them.

How long has each zoo in the book had Nile Hippos?

ABQ BioPark (since 2004)
Busch Gardens (since 1966)
Cheyenne Mountain (since 1958)
Cincinnati (since 2016)
Dallas (since 2017)
Denver (since 1958)
Disney’s Animal Kingdom (since park's opening in 1998)
Fort Worth (since 1946)
Honolulu (since 1955)
Kansas City (since 1995)
Memphis (since 1914)
Milwaukee County (since 1911)
Philadelphia (since 1912)
Saint Louis (since 1919)
San Antonio (since 1931)
San Diego (since 1936)
Sedgwick County (since 1972)
Toledo (since 1955)
Topeka (since 1966)
 
The list is dwindling even more, Denver is moving their Nile Hippo to a preserve in Texas and will not be bringing back the species, which leaves only 18 zoos in the book with hippos (17 once Sedgwick County Zoo's last hippo passes). However, I believe all of the remaining zoos with the exception of maybe Topeka are committed to holding Nile Hippos long-term.
Big Moves for Mahali - Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
The list is dwindling even more, Denver is moving their Nile Hippo to a preserve in Texas and will not be bringing back the species, which leaves only 18 zoos in the book with hippos (17 once Sedgwick County Zoo's last hippo passes). However, I believe all of the remaining zoos with the exception of maybe Topeka are committed to holding Nile Hippos long-term.
Big Moves for Mahali - Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance
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Honestly, as good as the Denver Zoo is, their hippo exhibit was really small and outdated. So I think that this very good move.

On the topic of Hippo welfare did anybody else know that the bare minimum amount of hippos a zoo should have is 3? I found that out recently, and was surprised considering most zoos max out at 2...
 
Nile Hippo Expert said:
The list is dwindling even more, Denver is moving their Nile Hippo to a preserve in Texas and will not be bringing back the species, which leaves only 18 zoos in the book with hippos (17 once Sedgwick County Zoo's last hippo passes). However, I believe all of the remaining zoos with the exception of maybe Topeka are committed to holding Nile Hippos long-term.
Big Moves for Mahali - Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance
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Very surprising to think how small that number actually is for such an iconic and popular animal. I hope the number can climb higher in the future - they are expensive to maintain so it's understandable why many zoos are phasing them out, but that number is a bit scary low.

Beastking04 said:
Honestly, as good as the Denver Zoo is, their hippo exhibit was really small and outdated. So I think that this very good move.

On the topic of Hippo welfare did anybody else know that the bare minimum amount of hippos a zoo should have is 3? I found that out recently, and was surprised considering most zoos max out at 2...
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I believe that change to the rules was made recently enough that the majority of current exhibits with two hippos predate the change.

I believe Milwaukee's intent at one point was to change to a larger group once Happy passes on. I was told a few years back Happy and Patti were not known to get along and considered old enough to potentially injure each other, and since they were separated, the zoo wasn't sure about holding a group at the time. The new Adventure Africa renovations will include more indoor space for a future group as well. But until Happy passes it's basically a retirement facility.
 
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