3 September 2014
On Saturday 2nd August, just before 10 am, the pygmy hippopotamus Krakunia gave birth to a small calf. The calf turned out to be a female and was named Olivia because Krakunia and Anton already have a male named Oliver. Olivia weighed just under 6 kg at birth. She lost a little weight at first and had a few days where she was a bit poorly, so we are especially pleased to see that she has put on weight and now resembles a little Michelin man more.
Olivia was 3 1/2 weeks old when she met her dad Anton for the first time. Everything has gone well, Anton is proving to be a bit of a pushover and Krakunia speaks up if she thinks he's getting too forward. Now they are all getting to know each other together.
The pygmy hippopotamus is severely threatened and declining in numbers in the wild. It is part of the European Association of Zoos' breeding programme for the conservation of endangered species. At the end of 2013, there were 126 pygmy hippopotamuses within the European breeding programme, distributed across 56 institutions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlwV89SXqbk