Meet Poppy the Pygmy
Pygmy hippo, that is
Internet sensation Moo Deng has competition: the upstart challenger, born at the Metro Richmond Zoo on December 9th, is a pygmy hippo named Poppy. Poppy made her first public appearance on January 3rd to enthusiastic zoo visitors. She is every bit as boppable and photogenic as her Thai cousin and is much easier to visit for American audiences, at least for those living in Richmond, Virginia and surrounding areas. No word yet on whether makeup distributor Sephora has contacted her mom Iris to negotiate a contract for Poppy’s potential new line of cheek blushes.
Poppy’s name was chosen based on an online contest held by the zoo, with over 100,000 votes tallied from participants in all 50 states and 165 countries. She is the third calf to be born to parents Iris and Corwin. As her sisters are named Violet and Petunia, the floral name fits nicely with the pattern established for all the ladies in her immediate family. The results of the naming contest were announced by a zoo spokesperson during a January 6th visit to the morning news show Today.
In addition to the typical baby routines of sleeping a bunch, nursing and starting to appreciate a bit of solid food, Poppy also spends her days in the zoo’s indoor pool with mother Iris. Pigmy hippopotami are semi-aquatic and spend much of their time in the wild in water. While they don’t swim per se, they do bounce along the beds of streams and ponds and can hold their breath underwater for 10-15 minutes. To ease her transition into aquatic activities, the zoo introduced Poppy to a pool filled to a shallow level and have gradually increased the depth for successive visits. The zoo reports that each day after being relased from their night-time hay-strewn bedroom, mom and calf head immediately to the pool and spend most of their day there. Poppy has taken to the pool like, I dunno, a fish to water (lame Martini, lame!), and now prefers to even nurse underwater. When the weather warms in the spring, they will be introduced to the outdoor habitat and will have access to the larger Hippo Haven pool, equiped with viewing windows. You can bet the paparazzi will be excited to get a closer look at this adorable new starlet.
Metro Richmond Zoo: "Pygmy Hippo Born Before Christmas" 12/24/24
Metro Richmond Zoo: "Pygmy Hippo Baby Splashes Onto Habitat" 1/3/25
What a pretty little girl Poppy is! I'm sure she'll do swimmingly, tiny water horse.
Ta, Martini. Poppy is totes adorbs, as the kids used to say. What do the kids say now?