A hippo baby is being attended by staff and is receiving critical care at Cincinnati Zoo after she was born six weeks early. The calf was not due until March. The calf is the first Nile hippo to be born at Cincinnati zoo in 75 years. Bibi, the mother of the calf, is a 17-year-old hippo and gave birth to the calf early Tuesday.

According to Christina Gorsuch, the curator of mammals at the zoo, the calf looks normal except for her size which is very, very small. The calf’s heart and lungs sound good and the baby hippo is pretty responsive to stimuli. However, they are still uncertain as to the state of the baby hippo’s muscles and brain as her system is underdeveloped and that getting her to a healthy weight would be a challenge.

Animal staff and vets are doing everything they can to help the baby hippo survive this critical time.
The baby hippo is yet to be named and weighs in at 29 pounds which is 25 pounds lighter than the lowest recorded birth weight for the species. According to Cincinnati Zoo staff, the normal range for a Nile hippo baby is about 55 to 120 pounds. Zoo staff are keeping the calf moist and warm and are giving her fluids as the baby is not able to stand up to nurse from her mother.

As Bibi was going into labor, the zoo keepers were able to collect milk. Staff at the zoo are hoping that they will be able to get the hippo baby to drink Bibi’s milk and other supplements from a bottle. According to Gorsuch, they will continue to milk Bibi so that staff can provide important nutrients to the baby and also stimulate production so that she will be ready to nurse when the calf is strong enough to be back with its mother as reported in Fox News Science.

Zoo staff said that it they are not sure of how long it would take for the baby to become strong enough to be able to stand and nurse from its mother. The father of the newborn calf is a 35-year-old hippo named Henry as reported in an article by The Guardian.