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Video: Mama Hippo Frolicks With Adorable Newborn At San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo is welcoming a new adorable member to its family: a baby hippo!
The zoo tweeted that the baby hippo was born yesterday and added this Vine of the calf playing with its 30-year-old mother, Funani, in a 150,000 gallon pool. San Diego Zoo spokesperson Jenny Mehlow tells LAist that they don't know the sex and weight of the baby just yet as the keepers are giving the calf and mom some space right now so they have time to bond. It'll also take some time before they name the zoo's newest addition.
The keepers did, however, observe the calf nursing yesterday. "It's a good sign everything's going well between mom and baby," Mehlow says.
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Sadly, not all of Funani's calves have survived over the years. In April 2014, the 8,000-pound hippo gave birth to a calf at the San Diego Zoo, but it died four days later. This new hippo would be the fifth surviving baby she's had at the zoo since she arrived in 1995.
While the baby and mom get to know each other, the father, Otis, will be hanging out by himself in another pool. Otis was brought from the Los Angeles Zoo over to the San Diego Zoo in 2009 so he could breed with Funani. They had a baby hippo together in 2011 named Adhama, who was moved to the Los Angeles Zoo in 2013.
Adhama made headlines last November when he fathered a baby hippo with 10-year-old hippo Mara, who was apparently on birth control. Things happen! He also is popularly known as the dancing hippo who did ballet-like moves when he still lived at the San Diego Zoo. Watch the video below:
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