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Hip-hippo-hooray!

Dallas Zoo is thrilled to announce that it got quite a treat the day before Halloween… with the arrival of a much-anticipated baby hippopotamus to your Dallas Zoo family!

Boipelo gave birth to a healthy hippo calf on Sunday, Oct. 30 around 5:30 p.m. Both mom and baby are doing well and have been bonding behind the scenes, while dad Gus and half-sister Adanna spend time on habitat.

The animal team had been closely monitoring Boipelo for several weeks as her birth window neared. Signs of labor started mid-afternoon that Sunday, and the team used cameras in the barn to keep tabs on Boipelo’s progress while allowing her to deliver the calf privately. Her labor progressed quickly and smoothly, as the team cheered Boipelo on from a distance.

The calf emerged strong and immediately came up for a breath of air, and then was swimming and active while mom watched on attentively. The little one was observed nursing within an hour of birth, and mom and baby spent the rest of that first night lying close together in their pool behind the scenes.

They’re still several weeks away from the little one debuting on habitat, so in the meantime, keep an eye out on social for all the updates on mom and baby and the rest of Dallas’s hippo bloat!

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