RhinoHippoElephantGiraffe
Well-Known Member
For the link, I missed a letter, but that's been fixed now.
Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden Cincinnati Zoo Hippos
- Thread starter RhinoHippoElephantGiraffe
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Even so the reference for the part you quote does not state the calf's gender - it is someone misreading something referring to Fiona I suspect.
The most likely is a simple misreading of the article's title "Fiona's a big sister".
RhinoHippoElephantGiraffe
Well-Known Member
It is been edited to say "half-sibling".
The hippo calf is a boy!
This will make things very interesting in a few years when they're forced to split up the family due to lack of space and risk of inbreeding... the Cincy hippo fans aren't going to like that.
Zoo staff have narrowed the roughly 90,000 name suggestions they received to two names, Fritz and Ferguson. The public now has an opportunity to vote to pick between these two and the winning name will be announced on the 15th.
Both pretty bad names for a hippo imo but oh well.
https://cincinnatizoo.org/vote-for-baby-hippo-name/
Both pretty bad names for a hippo imo but oh well.
https://cincinnatizoo.org/vote-for-baby-hippo-name/
Terrible, should have been Shrek, although Ferguson does tie into that. As others suggested on the members page, it would have been nice to see the name related to National Watermelon Day.
They'll just have to go with the flow and roll with the punches then!
Personally, I could also see it going the other direction in a positive light and becoming a popular media event for the zoo and the hippo fans.The hippo fans are really something else, though. Through private discussion with another member a couple months back, there seems to have been an instance in one of the Cincinnati Zoo's member Facebook group after the pregnancy announcement (not sure if it was an official zoo group or not) where some people were trying to find (and may have actually succeeded) to find video or photographic proof of Tucker and Bibi...well...yeah.
90,000 names and they considered those to be the top two?
I can guarantee five of those 90,000 names were far better than what they’ve came up with, but obviously an African name referencing the attributes of a hippopotamus wasn’t what they were looking for.
Corangurilla
Well-Known Member
It could be worse,Of course his name has to start with F like Fiona, heaven forbid he have his own identity
I’m don’t mind that they chose two “F” names, honestly. It’s the least of Cincinnati’s hippo issues.
Between the two, “Ferguson” is slightly closer to Shrek, but “Fritz” was the nickname of Frederick Joubert Duquesne, who wanted to import hippos to Louisiana to solve a meat shortage (although he was also a Nazi, so… go team Ferguson).
Quite average names for a hippo. But again, this is Fiona's younger brother we're talking about here!
I like Ferguson better, personally though. Fritz just...dosen't suit a hippo to me.
Australia Zoo would like a word.
Of course his name has to start with F like Fiona, heaven forbid he have his own identity
I felt the same when the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Giant panda cub was named Bei Bei - a name the zoo identified as complimentary to his older sister’s name (Bao Bao). If they were twins, fair enough: but the alternative name (Ping Ping) would have highlighted the identity of one of the country’s highest profile species - rather than giving the vibe of “another one.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of this naming convention within species that live in large groups (herds or zebra, troops of baboon etc.) but I agree it isn’t warranted in this instance.
I like Ferguson better. It can also be shortened to Gus as a nickname, which I think sounds better as a hippo name than either of the main options.
Seconded. I am curious if the keeper-staff'll actually use "Gus" when calling him in for the night or calling him up for training, as it's much less cumbersome than "Ferguson".
I’m guessing the keepers will have an in house name as is often used for high profile animals.Two syllable names are apparently best for animals re. learning their name.
There’s gonna be no shortage of people bellowing his name across the exhibit and they don’t want it to become a null stimulus that he’ll ignore when they use it.
RhinoHippoElephantGiraffe
Well-Known Member
I think the only reason they picked those names, is because they start with an F like Fiona. I had Henry II as my name suggestion.