Meet Monifa

Good news from over the weekend! In Australia, at Taronga Zoo, a new baby hippo was born who is not your average hippo. Monifa is a pygmy hippo — of which there are believed to be only 3,000 left in the wild.

The first birth at the zoo for over 23 years, Monifa had a troubled beginning requiring around-the-clock care from human caretakers for the first two weeks of her life. Now weighing in at about 6 kilos, the little hippo seems to be settling in and already enjoying her life. "She's such an inquisitive little thing and loves bath time — she even turns somersaults in the water," said keeper, Ranea Zammit.

Her birth is crucial, as declining numbers of the pygmy mean any new births will help keep maintain her species. The species grows to about 1 meter in height — almost half the size of other hippos. The highly endangered animals, which come from the tropical forests of western Africa, grow to just a fifth of the size of their better-known cousins. Pygmy hippos are reclusive and nocturnal. Along with their much larger cousins, the common hippopotamuses, they are the only hippo species in the world.

Pygmy hippos are semi-aquatic and need to live near water to keep their skin moisturised and their body cool. They are plant-eating mammals, feeding on ferns, broad-leaved plants, grasses and fruits they find in the forest in the wild of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Their numbers have fallen due to the constant threat of poaching, natural predators and war in west African countries. This cute girl could be the key to preventing her species from becoming extinct!

Read more here.