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zoogiraffe

Common Hippo

Common Hippo
zoogiraffe, 30 Jul 2014
    • kiang
      That does not look healthy at all!
    • wally war eagle
      Based on USA sanitary engineering treatment standards, this cess pool will qualify as a treatment lagoon fit only for microbes.
    • Panthera1981
      It has to be seen to be believed-you've not seen the indoor pools!

      I don't think the outdoor hippo pools have been altered at all since the zoo first opened 80+ years ago. A composter was built a few years ago. However, the hippos seem to thrive in it and Whipsnade has a good history with breeding Common hippo.

      Despite this, the exhibit does regularly get negative visitor feedback for it's attack on your senses, smell in particular. Personally, I think it's long overdue for a major overhaul!
    • ajmcwhipsnade
      The Hippo facility was re-done in 1996 (If my memory serves me well), and the indoor housing is a million times better then the old house.

      In my personal opinion the pools are fine, and I am always amazed at people saying "euugh the smell" when I'm there. they are wild animals, what do people expect?
    • IanRRobinson
      The Common Hippo at Whipsnade could do with a new house. The building with the indoor viewing is fine for Pygmy Hippo, but it doesn't give the Common Hippo enough space. A good sized group (and Lola has again produced a female calf) would be a first rate exhibit; and nobody in Britain has ever done this whilst providing the animals with an indoor facility that offered underwater viewing.
    • Pertinax
      Its not the Hippos themselves but the dung in the water that smells so bad. In Africa it would be washed away by river current or dispersed in a lake. Here it just stagnates and builds up in a small space giving rise to the unpleasant smell. I remember the indoor hippo house at ZSL in the 1950's- the smell in there was even worse as it was enclosed. Its time consuming to clean out the water too often of course.

      Agree with Ian Robinson, Whipsnade's Common Hippos deserve a far more sympathetic exhibit than they still have now- the changes(e.g. indoor housing) haven't gone anywhere like far enough.
    • zooman
      Surely with all the rain in the UK it would be possible to build a dam higher than this enclosure and a run off lower than this pool to flush it out on a regular basis.

      Thinking about this maybe it's allot more complicated than that but really how is this acceptable!
    • Panthera1981
      So if ZSL can splurge 5m+ on a lion exhibit in London,surely it's about time they spend some money on a first rate Common hippo facility. Or is there a filtration issue with this area of the zoo?
    • Pertinax
      I think you are correct there have been no changes to the outdoor pools whatsoever. The dung-covered water- it must be cleaned periodically as its not always as bad-looking as in this photo- does smell, but the Hippos seem able to live in it okay. Same goes at West Midlands Safari Park, only there the water is(or was) actually foetid and black, which it isn't normally at Whipsnade.

      Unfortunately ZSL seem prepared to throw millions at major new projects like Lions at London, while no expenditure or action is taken on other things that really need attention like this.
    • BongoHardwood
      I've been told the weather can have an effect too with the dung in the water being more prominent and floating in warmer weather and sinking more in cold weather. I don't know to what extent this is true - maybe there is a student somewhere looking for a dissertation topic who could look into this!
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  • Category:
    ZSL Whipsnade Zoo
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    Date:
    30 Jul 2014
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