It is with great pleasure that Portugal's Zoo Santo Inácio announces the birth of a female Pygmy Hippopotamus. The tiny baby marks a big step in preserving this endangered West African species. The main causes threatening these herbivores are deforestation, hunting, agricultural land development and civil conflicts.

Just 3,000 individuals remain in the wild, and a few more than 240 in zoological parks. Zoo Santo Inácio joined this cause in 2006 by welcoming a female, Romina, and two years later, with the arrival of a male, Kibwana. The couple has lived together at the zoo for four years, and is part of an important European breeding program for endangered species (EEP), led by the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA).