African paddock with hippo at Basel Zoo 30/08/09

Home to Grant\'s Zebra, Ostrich and Common Hippos. There is a small amount of land fenced off for the hippos in the day as the zebras are territorial and none too keen on hippos coming onto the land! By the time of this photo the zebras and ostriches were in for the night and the hippos were able to roam the whole paddock.

I am very interested in this mixed species exhibit at Basel Zoo, partly because mixed exhibits are interesting to the zoo visitor, partly because I in general assume that the concept is also beneficial to the zoo animals.

But this particular mix is somewhat problematic, it seems? Reminds me of the fact that an ostrich on the savanna at Copenhagen Zoo was badly bitten by a hippo and had to be put to sleep.

I would appreciate more comments on this subject!

The story of the zebra/hippo conflict is detailed in the zoo guidebook - apparently there was originally no separate land area for the hippos and in the day they were completely unable to get onto land outside as they got charged by zebras whenever they tried. Hence the barrier was added so that the hippos could leave the water. Very odd.