Hippopotamus family at West Midland Safari Park

I went here once primarily to see this large Hippo group, but the reality was very disappointing given the poor conditions- the filthy black water in the lake, the background(as in this photo)the lack of a decent land area for grazing and spartan-looking shed for an indoor area.

I think breeding has stopped for the forseeable future. I can't see them bother to access a new male and breed any more (unless there's a young male in the group and it starts to breed with its siblings) with this number already. I still wish somewhere in the UK would do something really good for Hippos exhibitwise, but they are expensive to maintain and not endangered.

Might be expensive but they're definitely worth the conservation value as they're registered as vulnerable with the IUCN. The same status as Indian rhino's if memory serves me correctly. (It's late and I haven't got the energy to check...)

"There are an estimated 125,000 to 150,000 hippos throughout Sub-Saharan Africa; Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations".from Lewison, R. & Oliver, W. (IUCN SSC Hippo Specialist Subgroup) (2008).

They are also enormously popular with the general public. Whilst I quite agree with some of the comments above "dissing" Bewdley's exhibit, many years of inspecting hippos swimming in you-know-what at Whipsnade has made me realise just how much (or how little!) they'll tolerate from their accommodation!!

The one good thing about the hippo's at WMSP is that they get a large body of water, looking through the gallery on here you see a lot of exhibits with just basic, small pools. I know it's not as large as Longleat but it's a definite improvement on other exhibits on the continent!