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.
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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