Hippopotamus gives birth at Thiruvananthapuram zoo

A baby hippopotamus was born at the Thiruvananthapuram zoo on Monday morning.

Sita, a 14-year-old female hippopotamus that was born and raised at the zoo, gave birth to the baby hippo around 5 a.m. The hippopotamus is currently being monitored by the zoo authorities.

Male hippos attain sexual maturity between the ages of seven and 10 and female hippos between five and 10 years of age.

Usually, the female hippos give birth in the water itself. Living in small herds, the females would deviate from the group once it nears the period of delivery to a shallow part of the waterbody. A few days after giving birth, the female would return to the herd with the baby.

The hippopotamus calf with its mother at the city zoo on Monday.

Though these animals are mostly calm, they tend to attack if provoked. Besides, the zoo authorities have taken steps to restrict visitors near the hippo enclosure as large crowd can agitate hippos with them tending to safeguard the mother hippo and its baby. If things go awry the mother hippo and its baby can get vulnerable.

Last year, a pair of hippos were given away by the city zoo in exchange for a pair of lions from the Tirupati zoo. At present, the zoo has one male hippo and five females of varying ages.