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Flamingo Land's miracle hippo reaches astonishing size

Friday, 8 November 2024 11:24

By Esmee Howie

Baby hippopotamus Aurora. (Image: @djr.photography24)

Flamingo Land have shared the amazing progress of baby hippopotamus Aurora - the first at the zoo for over 20 years.

In May this year, Flamingo Land Resort welcomed baby hippopotamus Aurora.

And in just six months, her success has wowed the zoo.

Aurora weighed an amazing 50kg when she was born to her mother, 25-year-old Godzilla.

Her birth was an incredible achievement after the zoo breeding programme (European Ex-Situ programme, or EEP) identified Godzilla as the most important female in Europe.

But the birth did not come without complications as after three days the calf was found very cold.

The team immediately went to work warming the calf and providing fluids with Glucose.

The next day she was in a life-threatening state, so was transferred to Rainbow Equine Hospital in Malton for intensive care.

But after being nursed back to full health, Aurora has become a success story at Flamingo Land.

She was given her name due to the fact she was born the same week that the Northern lights illuminated the night sky across the UK.

She recently weighed in at over 170kg at just 5-months-old and has been spending time with her parents to learn how to socialise.

Aurora was recently photographed by Dan Redfern and Flamingo Land posted a reel to their Instagram page showing the growth of the hippo.

Watch it here:

View this post on Instagram

A spokesperson for Flamingo Land said:

"She now weighs over 170kg and is still growing fast! Recently she has been spending more and more time with her mum as her dedicated keepers begin the slow process of integrating her with mum first and then dad.

"In the last couple weeks she has been for her first swim in the hippo lake, another vital step on her journey to fully integrating with her parents."

To hear more about Aurora you can see updates on Flamingo Land Resort's Instagram page here.

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