A 40 lb. Preemie

March 3, 2017 7:55 AM

Fiona the Hippo was born January 24th, six weeks premature and 25 lbs. too small. Despite a rough start, Fiona is doing well and is learning to be a hippo in her new, bigger pool. The Cincinnati Zoo continues to update her progress.

Fiona's keepers have written detailed accounts of caring for their new preemie:

Caring for Preemie Hippo Fiona
Hippo Baby Blog #2: The Many Challenges of Raising a Preemie Hippo
Hippo Baby Blog #3: Little Hippo, Big Personality

Fiona is even still getting some of her mother Bibi's milk, courtesy of the zoo staff milking Bibi.

posted by gladly (14 comments total)

CHUBBY BABY
posted by merriment at 8:01 AM on March 3, 2017

What a horrible cat!
posted by neroli at 8:29 AM on March 3, 2017 [6 favorites]

Cincinnati's Busken Bakery is also helping out by selling adorable #TeamFiona Cookies, with $1/cookie going to the Cincinnati Zoo for Fiona's care.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:35 AM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Fun fact: Baby hippos are the most dangerously cute animals in the world and are thought to be responsible for over 3000 squee-related deds every year.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:52 AM on March 3, 2017 [12 favorites]

Wow. The zoo did exclusive pumping with Bibi to provide the milk for Fiona (albeit to be able to put together a formula with same components).

Seriously, lots of adorable zoo babies in the news the past few weeks. A surprise giraffe baby, April taking forever to give birth, a bay gorilla, and now a premature baby hippo.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 9:01 AM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Fiona's a BIG DEAL here in SW Ohio. A few weeks ago, the Cincy Zoo posted on her blog that she met some sort of milestone so they were going to stop with the daily updates. The outrage and uproar was such that they immediately apologized and promised to continue the daily updates.
posted by zakur at 9:49 AM on March 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

I love how proud of herself she looks after she play-bites the zookeeper, at about 1:15.
posted by tavella at 10:41 AM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Remember that post about the amount of urine and feces in pools? Worse. So much worse.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:48 AM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Cool!


...I wouldn't get in that pool though.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:08 AM on March 3, 2017

I had the same thought, that I'd be sitting *outside* the pool. But I guess they figure they can take a shower and Fiona needs to be able to bump around and play with them to learn water-socialization for the future.
posted by tavella at 11:09 AM on March 3, 2017

Despite my above comment, I'd totally be in the water with Fiona. Who's a good tubby girl? Who is? WHO IS?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:49 AM on March 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

I wanna smooch that nose, headbutt danger or no
posted by Fig at 12:22 PM on March 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

"squee-related deds" is my new favorite phrase.
posted by The otter lady at 2:19 PM on March 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

The Cincinnati Children's human people nurses coming to put a line in the hippo reminded me of this adorable story of a masseur hired to massage a walrus with back spasms. At first she was super pissed off about it but after a few sessions she'd be flopping out of the pool in delight and rolling over to with her impatience to get started.

(I tried to find the video of this adorableness that I saw on Animal Planet back in the day but allow me to warn you: "walrus massage therapy" takes you to a VERY TERRIBLE corner of the googlebox results. Do not attempt.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:10 PM on March 3, 2017 [4 favorites]