Today's message from the "Young Zoo Correspondent School" column is dedicated to World Hippo Day.
World Hippo Day is celebrated annually on February 15. Although this holiday is not official, in the early 2000 it was supported by animal rights activists and activists. They began to hold various thematic events, thanks to which they drew the attention of mankind to the problems faced by these unique animals. After all, although they seem so strong and courageous, in reality, these giants may be threatened with extinction due to factors such as habitat loss and poaching.
Hippos are the third largest land mammals after elephants and rhinos. They combine strength, courage, and bravery. Can anyone walk past such a handsome one without holding their breath? Of course not... They amaze with their majesty.
Hippo Day is a great opportunity to get to know these animals and learn a lot of interesting things about them.
Today, on the occasion of World Hippo Day, we decided to offer you a fragment of the scientific work of our young biologist Artem Ovsyanov, dedicated to the keeping of hippos in our zoo.
“The history of hippos in Mykolaiv Zoo
(from Kazymyr to Ricky)
1. Kazymyr
In the 70s of the twentieth century, a pair of hippos Cindy (Senya) and Krasunya (Maria) actively bred in Kharkiv Zoo. Together, they gave birth to 15 cubs that went to zoos around the world. And one of these hippos was our Kazymyr, born on January 19, 1978.
Meanwhile, on March 30, 1978, our Mykolaiv Zoo moved to a new territory, where a building for keeping hippos and elephants was built. And on November 28, 1978, Kazymyr came to us.
The hippo appeared to be calm and obedient. When he came to us, he was very small. His favorite food was semolina porridge, which he ate from a basin. Today, Kazymyr still lives in Mykolaiv Zoo, he is the oldest hippo in Ukraine and one of the oldest animals in our zoo.
2. Yana
After Kazymyr grew up, the zoo started looking for a mate for him. And Yana arrived from Kharkiv in 1980. Only there were a few problems. First, Yana's parents are Cindy (Senya) and Krasunya (Maria). That is, she was Kazymyr's sister. Second, she had a very weak immune system. Which was the cause of her death in 1984. Yana is the hippo that is usually not mentioned when telling the history of our zoo, and this is understandable, since she did not live long and did not have time to become part of our animal family.
3. Stella
On September 28, 1986, Stella was transferred from Lypetsk. She was born in Riga Zoo on April 26, 1977. Stella and Kazymyr got along well and 8 months later, on May 22, 1987, a little hippo was born to them, who was named Ingul in honor of the river that flows through Mykolaiv. Kazymyr and Stella lived together for 22 years. The female died after a miscarriage. She was operated on, but could not be saved.
4. Kazymyr and Stella's cubs
In total, Kazymyr and Stella had 6 cubs:
1. Ingul (male) was born on May 22, 1987. June 13, 1989, he was transferred to Yerevan.
2. Unnamed cub (female) was born October 2, 1988. Died October 11, 1988.
3. Kurgan (male) was born April 21, 1990. April 26, 1991 was transferred to Moscow Zoo.
4. Lambada (female) was born January 3, 1992. November 13, 1992 was transferred to Shymkent Zoo.
5. Avral (male) was born July 5, 1993. July 27, 1999 was transferred to Tashkent Zoo.
6. Dzhunga (female) was born April 21, 2000. December 9, 2003 was given to the circus.
5. Ricky
After Stella died, the zoo started looking for a new friend for Kazymyr. She was the hippopotamus Ricky from Ramat Gan Safari Park. But Ricky didn’t go alone. Lucy, who also lived in the safari park, traveled with her. After the ship arrived at the Odesa port, Ricky and Lucy were taken to Mykolaiv, where Kazymyr was already waiting for them. A few months later, Lucy was transferred to Kharkiv, and Ricky and Kazymyr began to live together only in 2012.
Ricky had an interesting habit – she liked to sleep on her back in the pool. When visitors saw Ricky sleeping in the water on her back, they really might thought she was dead. After a while, a sign was put up with the inscription: “I sleep like that!” so that visitors would not be concerned about the female. When Ricky got older, she couldn’t do that anymore and became calmer, because before that she did also other tricks. For example, she climbed on Kazymyr’s back to get leaves from a tree. Now Kazymyr and Ricky live together and are a friendly couple, which you can see in our zoo.
