A paddling mini-submarine gallops weightlessly through an underwater landscape like an astronaut. In slow motion, it hops, dances and rolls merrily over the rocky ground, only to push itself off the ground with a graceful leap, catch its breath on the surface and shake the water out of its rotating propeller ears: Toni, the famous mini pygmy hippopotamus from Zoo Berlin, has mastered her first dive in front of an audience in the indoor enclosure of Hippo Bay with flying colours. She has been practising diligently for weeks with mum Debbie in the 1.20m deep outdoor pool and is now ready for deeper waters just in time for autumn. This opens up completely new perspectives for zoo guests: Hippo fans young and old can now finally watch Toni's underwater adventures through the glazed pane of the 22-degree indoor pool and see the funny bundle of joy gliding through the water.
‘Over the past few weeks, Toni has been carefully acclimatised to the deeper pool. There was initially a trial run in the indoor pool for which we lowered the water level in the approx. 1.80 m deep pool by around 40 cm,’ explains biologist and hippopotamus curator Dr Florian Sicks. ‘Pygmy hippos can't swim, they push themselves off the ground and glide through the water. As we saw today, Toni has now mastered this perfectly.’ From now on, zoo guests in the Hippo Bay will be able to see for themselves every day that all the practice has paid off. Zoo and Tierpark Director Dr Andreas Knieriem is particularly happy for the zoo guests: ‘There are only fewer than 2,500 adult pygmy hippos left in their natural habitat - and the trend is decreasing. This makes it all the more important that people are enthusiastic about these rare animals and are committed to the conservation of their species. In our Hippo Bay, people and animals are only separated by a glass wall. This gives our guests an excellent opportunity to observe how pygmy hippos and their larger neighbours behave under water. Ballet dance meets space travel - I think that describes it quite well.’
In November, there will be a joint charity auction together with honorary ‘coach’ Antonio Rüdiger, the proceeds of which will benefit a species conservation project for pygmy hippos in Sierra Leone. Details will follow shortly.
Background
Zoo Berlin succeeded in breeding this highly endangered species for the first time in Europe back in 1921. Dwarf hippo mum Debbie has already successfully reared young herself in 2004, 2007 and 2008. Dwarf hippo father Tobi is not involved in rearing the young. Pygmy hippos are shy loners and have fixed territories. The first pygmy hippopotamus came to Europe from Sierra Leone in 1873.
