With chubby cheeks and an upturned nose, a baby Pygmy
Hippopotamus may look more like a video game character than a
real animal. But this male baby, born on February 22 at the
Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, is an important
addition to the population of this critically endangered
species. The male calf, who will be named in a soon-to-be-
announced contest, made his public debut alongside his nine-
year-old mother last week. Zoo staffers report that the baby
rarely strays far from his mother as he explores his
surroundings. Pygmy Hippos are native to West Africa, where they
live secretive lives in the deepest jungles. Found only in small
pockets of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and
Nigeria, Pygmy Hippos are about half as tall and a quarter of
the weight of their cousins the Common Hippos. Pygmy Hippos
spend the day submerged in rivers, emerging at night to eat
ferns, fruits, and leaves. To mark their territories, they wave
their tails while defecating to spread feces as far as possible.
Th