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The San Diego Zoo recently announced its newest ( and arguably cutest ) comer : a newborn male pygmyhippo , born on April 9 to its 4 - twelvemonth - one-time pigmy hippo mama Mabel .
Within hour of birthing , the very tubby youngster was standing up and keep up its mother around , toddling after her in the river horse ' indoor home ground , zoo representativessaid in a statement .
The baby hippo is mama Mabel’s first calf.
The baby , which has not yet been named , weighed 12.4 lbs . ( 5.6 kilograms ) at birth and now press about 25 lbs . ( 11 kilogram ) . This is the first successful pygmy hippo birth at the zoological garden in more than three decades , offering Leslie Townes Hope for the future of thisendangered species , consort to the financial statement .
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In the pregnancy " Mary Augusta Arnold Ward " of the hippo habitat , the calfskin now has admittance to a pool , after first testing the water in a shallow bath . Over the last few week , the baby demonstrated that it was able-bodied to close its nostrils and hold its breath underwater .
A coating of “blood sweat” protects the hippos' skin from drying out.
As their name connote , pigmy hippos ( Choeropsis liberiensis ) are importantly smaller than river hippos ( Hippopotamus amphibius),according to the San Diego Zoo . Adult pygmy hippos matter about 350 to 600 lbs . ( 160 to 270 kg ) , while river hippos can count up to 10 time more . The heads of pigmy Hippo Regius are also blunter and debauchee than those of their bigger hippo cousins , and pygmy hippo ' eyes are located on the sides of their heads rather than at the top .
Pigmy hippos often look lustrous and slick even when they are n’t in the water , thanks to a pinkish fluid called " blood sweat " that oozes from their skin . This liquidness acts like a moisturizing sun blocker ; it keeps their hide from dry out and cracking in the heat and protects the hippos from sunburn , concord to the zoo .
Fewer than 2,500 pygmy hippos continue in their native habitats in West Africa , where they live in timber rivers in Guinea , Sierra Leone , Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire .
Mabel and her calfskin will continue separated from the calf ’s founding father , a 13 - year - old named Elgon , as pygmy hippos do not typically live together as families , zoo spokesperson said . In about a calendar month , the baby and his mother will come out from their seclusion in the indoor enclosure and will start taking good turn with Elgon to spend meter in the main hippo home ground .
earlier write onLive Science .
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