November 17, 2017
Hello ,
I went to the San Diego Zoo last weekend, so sharing my favorite sighting, the mama and baby hippo!
Tony, the one-hundred-pound baby boy was born at the zoo in late September.
Hippopotamuses are semi-aquatic mammals, meaning they spend time on the land and in the water. In fact, baby hippos are born in the water, and we got to see Funani, the mama hippo, teaching Tony to come up for air. My daughter Monica shot a
video.
To watch the video:
1) click below. 2) when you see the video you must click on it again to hear the sound, which is the zoo keeper explaining what's
happening. 3) forgive me for poking my head up at the wrong moment. Tony is Funani
and Otis's 12th calf. I could have stood there and watched them all day. But, of course, I had to watch the mom and baby gorilla, too. What is it with babies?
After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third-largest type of land mammal. But despite looking like a big pig, the closest living relatives of the hippo are cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises, etc.) from
which they diverged about 55 million years ago. Thank you Wikipedia.
Below: Photo of baby and mama courtesy of the San Diego Zoo. Actually, it was sad visiting the zoo and seeing so many animals in danger of extinction.
Hippos are not yet endangered, but their habitat has been greatly reduced over the last
200 years. The ban on elephant ivory has increased the demand for hippo ivory also causing a rapid decrease in their numbers.
While visiting, I learned the San Diego zoo raises money through memberships, donations and grants to help fund animal and habitat conservation efforts in more than 70 countries around the world.
So, yes, there is something we can do.
Until next week... Have you read a great book? Tell me about it. Have a burning question? Let me know. If you know someone who might enjoy
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