At one stage, though now it just looks as though he has lost a lot of weight with mainly loose skin remaining ? Missing top teeth ? and bottom right one curving outward.
The hippo has lived for 21 years in an older, really cramped exhibit (I think 1/3 the size of new one) and was already obese. With low activity rate, much of calories in the food volume which is needed to fill up the stomach go into the fat deposits of course.
When settling in new exhibit, he slipped at the stairs while entering the pool and almost never used it again, even after the steps were remade (also with pool becoming more shallow). So, all the activity was restricted to moving between 'mud bath' and feeding place. And, inwarmer months, splashing in outdoor pool, which also doesn't allow submerging & real swimming.
However, not long before death he finally had a good swim at indoor pool.
