Pygmy hippopotamus

The dwarf hippo's only close relative is the common big hippo.
Both the pygmy hippo and the giant hippo live in Africa. The big hippo lives on the savannah, while the pygmy hippo lives in the rainforests of West Africa.

The pygmy hippo was first discovered by scientists in the last century. When a pygmy hippo was first seen, it was thought to be a baby of the great hippo. Only later was it realised that it was a separate species.

The pygmy hippopotamus is very shy and does everything possible to avoid contact with humans. It usually lives alone, but can gather in small family groups.

If the pygmy hippo spends time in the sun, it loses water through its skin five times faster than a human. It therefore needs to stay in a shady and humid environment. Its nostrils and ears can be closed when it is underwater.

When it feeds, it makes so much noise that it can be heard from 50 metres away.

• Distribution: Scattered in the lowland rainforests of West Africa, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast
• Population: Critically endangered in the wild, primarily due to habitat destruction
• Weight: 180-260 kilos
• Height: 77-83 centimetres
• Body length: 140-160 centimetres
• Mating season: Unknown in the wild. In captivity, young can be born all year round
• Sexual maturity: 4-5 years
• Gestation: 194-204 days
• Number of cubs: 1, rarely 2
• Food: Aquatic plants, leaves, fruits, grasses and herbs
• Life expectancy: Up to 42 years
• Latin name: Choeropsis liberiensis

The newest addition to the family
The pygmy hippo is an endangered species, so all babies are welcome, but it's not the easiest feat in the world for pygmy hippos to make a baby. In their natural habitat, pygmy hippos are solitary animals and only come together to mate with each other. Here, the male has to sniff out the pregnant female by smelling her abandoned faeces, but at the Zoo it is fortunately easier for the pair to find each other. At Aalborg Zoo, we have been lucky with our pygmy hippo pair, who thrive in each other's company, which has resulted in several babies over the years. The male Chip, who is a mature gentleman of over 30 years, has also fathered other cubs in the past, including Microchip, who you can meet at Givskud Zoo and Thug, who lives at London Zoo - and as pygmy hippos typically live to be around 45 years old, there is still a chance for more cubs from Chip and the female Nala. The cubs are with their mother for 1.5 - 2 years. After that, she loses interest in them and starts to be a bit rough with them, and then we have to find another zoo for them to be in. It starts with the male cubs at the earliest, while she accepts the female cubs a little longer.

Warmth and love
The pygmy hippo lives in swampy rainforest areas in West Africa, so if you want to keep a pygmy hippo, you must first and foremost provide a warm and humid environment. The facility at Aalborg Zoo is therefore kept at a constant 23 degrees all year round and the water in the pool at 22 degrees. The humidity is maintained by an automatic "rain system" that waters the many planters in the building every morning. The outdoor system is only used when the temperature is above 8 degrees centigrade, otherwise the pygmy hippos' skin risks cracking. Another important factor is that the keepers use their voice when they are with them. This is because the pygmy hippos have incredible hearing, but they don't see very well, so the keepers always talk to them when they are with them, and therefore the animals know their voices and are comfortable with them. Although the pygmy hippos can be dangerous animals, it is possible for the keepers to interact with them as long as they have food with them. If the keepers need to move them outside the facility, they will only follow them if there is a bucket of food as a reward. Even though the animals know their voices, the keepers can't go too far away and they can't just call the animals and expect them to come. Therefore, they move quietly when they are there and talk so that the pygmy hippos can hear them and not be startled when they spot them.

Don't stand in the way of a hippo
Large hippos live in herds where you have to defend your place in the hierarchy. Therefore, they can be more aggressive. The pygmy hippo, on the other hand, lives alone and is not aggressive, but it will flee if it perceives danger, and it's dangerous if you stand in its way. It is therefore important that zookeepers are careful to make the pygmy hippos aware of their presence, otherwise the animals may become frightened and look for an escape route. The water is their safe place, which is why keepers always make sure not to walk between them and the water. When keepers enter the pygmy hippo enclosure, it's always with a purpose and never just for fun. They have to keep an eye on the animals as they move around in there, as they move silently and can suddenly stand on their side. The adorable babies in particular could easily be tempted to make a cosy visit to the pygmy hippo enclosure, and the babies are also quite playful and like to romp with the keepers. But for safety's sake, it's important to keep your distance, otherwise the animals may perceive the keepers as their playmates. The animals will weigh somewhere between 200 and 300 kilos, and you don't want to be playmates with an animal that size. Instead, zookeepers can keep the pygmy hippos active by giving them showers and making sure their food is a little difficult to get hold of, so they have to spend longer to feed. At the zoo, the menu consists mainly of vegetables and hay, and the pygmy hippos have a fondness for parsley. It's always a good thing to find an animal's favourite food, so the keepers can use this as a reward. It's also a good thing that the pygmy hippos have chosen parsley as their favourite food, as it's not fattening. If the animals get too fat, they may have difficulty mating.

Compact with built-in sunscreen
The pygmy hippo is adapted to life in swampy areas and is small and compactly built to break through the dense vegetation of the rainforest. The large hippo's eyes, ears and nose are placed high on its head because it spends a lot of time in the water. This allows it to be almost completely submerged and still breathe and keep an eye out for danger. However, the pygmy hippo lives mostly on land and is therefore built differently with its nose and eyes positioned slightly lower on its head. The pygmy hippo secretes a secretion through the skin that keeps the skin moisturised, protects against sunlight and has an anti-bacterial effect, so wounds and cuts heal quickly. And it's also quite handy if you live in a dense rainforest. The secretion is secreted through the skin pores all over the body and can give the pygmy hippo an almost rainbow-like glow in sunlight. The fluid is reddish in colour, so it used to be thought that the pygmy hippo sweat blood.