Cheyenne Mountain Zoo acquires first male hippo in decades
If everything goes according to plan, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo will eventually be hearing the pitter-patter of little hippo feet.
On June 30, the Colorado Springs zoo welcomed its first male hippo in 31 years. Biko, a 17-year-old male Nile hippopotamus, came to the zoo from Florida as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Nile Hippopotamus Species Survival Plan.
Biko joins Cheyenne Mountain Zoos female hippos Zambezi and Kasai, who returned recently from a Missouri zoo to which they had been on loan while the new Water’s Edge: Africa exhibit was being built, per a Cheyenne Mountain Zoo press release.
If there is a successful mating, it will be the first time any of the three hippos produced offspring, the zoo said.
Zambezi and Kasai are currently visible to guests at Water’s Edge: Africa. Biko will acclimate to his new home and complete a routine quarantine period before being introduced to the female hippos, according to zoo officials.
The last male hippo at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Tony, died in 1989.
Contact the writer: Brandon.Buchmeier@gazettedev.gazette.com
Nile hippo sisters Zambezi and Kasai at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.