The hippopotamus, home to the rainforests of West Africa, was born in the Královédvor Zoo for the first time in fifteen years. Breeding hippos is not easy. Animals accustomed from nature to solitary life tend to be intolerant of each other.
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Zoologists must capture an appropriate mating time due to possible skirmishes, which often result in serious injuries. The female’s willingness to tolerate the presence of the male lasts only a few days at the time of heat.
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The cub is growing successfully.
Photo: Simona Jiřičková, Právo
“The breeding of Liberian hippos in human care has been stagnant for a long time. One of the reasons is also the lack of suitable males. We therefore have double joy at the birth of a male. The young drink regularly and grow successfully, “added zoologist Jiří Hrubý.
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The very first cub of the Liberian hippopotamus in the then Czechoslovakia was successfully bred in 1978 in Dvůr Králové. Later, another eighteen cubs were born here.
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“The new addition after almost 15 years is important for several reasons. It follows the extraordinary tradition of the Královédvor Zoo in the breeding of these very rare animals, “added Přemysl Rabas, director of the Safari Park. The male enjoys the lasting favor of the quartz mother of the first-born Tanquey. The father is a breeding male Wamburuhtuh, nicknamed Valda, who arrived in the Krkonoše Mountains only at the beginning of this year from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
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“Parenting is genetically valuable. A newborn male will be very important in the European conservation program, “says Hrubý.
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In the near future, the mother and cub will live in the reconstructed hippo pavilion with new larger pools and outdoor enclosures surrounded by palisade fencing. The modifications will enable a better view and the background of the hippos will be architecturally unified with the neighboring replica of the West African town in one area.
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Therefore, visitors will see the young hippopotamus at the earliest in the spring of next year, when, perhaps just like this spring and autumn, the garden will not be able to make a forced covid break. The safari park now breeds five Liberian hippos. Two males and three females. It is similar to hippos, the largest breeding group in Central Europe.
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