Fiona the premature baby hippopotamus puts on weight in the Cincinnati Zoo

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden announce the birth of a Nile hippopotamus, Fiona.

Fiona, the hippopotamus, was born six weeks premature, a month ago on 24 January 2017. She was born 20 pounds (9 kilograms) lighter than the typical birth weight for a Nile hippo, so she needed emergency care for the first month of her life.

Initially baby Fiona was dehydrated and need help from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. The Center’s Vascular Access Team, a group that works with prematurely born (human) children, helped place an intravenous (IV) drip in the little hippo to ensure that she received fluid nutrients to build her strength.

Now at 50 pounds (almost 23 kilograms) she is about the weight she should have been at birth, and the IV drip has been removed. She has been in the pool to build muscle and lung strength. She continues to put on weight daily and is passed the critical stage. However, she is still receiving treatment and has not yet been swimming with her parents Henry and Bibi.

http://cincinnatizoo.org/blog/2017/01/25/premature-hippo-baby-updates/

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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