Celebrate World Hippo Day on February 15 with some cute-but-deadly herbivore friends

It’s cold, wet, or snowy, and just all over miserable, but World Hippo Day is February 15! We cannot uphold our unofficial title of Hippo Watch without celebrating. Enjoy some extra cuteness this week as we positively barrage you with hippos being their best selves.

First up is our original queen, Fiona, the preemie baby hippo who bobbed right into our hearts. According to the Cincinnati Zoo’s post on X (formerly Twitter), her favorite things are “her care team, snacks, her bloat, naps, and playing” (girl, same). She recently turned 8 and celebrated in style with some delightful birthday treats — carved watermelons!

Next is Fiona’s baby brother, Fritz. Fritz entered the scene on August 3, 2022 at the Cincinnati Zoo. As a two-year-old, he enjoys annoying his older sister, being a bit of a goof, and playing with toys in the water. Pretty universal baby brother experience.

Ahh, Moo Deng. From the beginning of your meteoric rise to stardom, your sassy personality enraptured all your fans. She is an absolute treat if you need some adorable animal videos to pick you up. And of course, you can check out her livestream at any time — just make sure to account for the time difference with Thailand!

Poppy was born last December at the Metro Richmond Zoo, rounding out a precious lineup of pygmy hippos born in 2024. This little girl was named through two rounds of internet polls, and while Poppy fits her nicely (matching mom Iris), she will always be Hammie Mae in my heart. And just look at her enjoying her first swim. You can also catch Poppy on a daily livestream.

Timothy is a resident of the San Antonio Zoo and has a more active social media presence than some humans! From love letters to Fiona to a bid for president, Timothy has personality in spades. With his duck friend as a running mate, how did we not manage to elect him into office?

Haggis holds a special place in my heart as the first pygmy hippo we covered when resurrecting the weekly Cute. The little bundle is experiencing life in Scotland to the fullest — going swimming, having odes dedicated to her, and enjoying life out in her habitat. Edinburgh Zoo even assembled a gallery of their “side eye queen” for your enjoyment.

Finally, let’s enjoy Toronto Zoo’s montage of Penelope, their resident pygmy hippo, from 2019’s World Hippo Day. Penelope’s story is a good measure of just how incredibly rare the species is — Penelope was meant to relocate to Houston in 2022 for a Species Survival Plan match with their resident male Silas, who sadly passed away a week after the announcement went live. At the time, only 26 pygmy hippos were living in 12 AZA-accredited North America facilities, making each birth even more important to celebrate. Penelope moved to Michigan’s John Ball Zoo in 2024 for her new match.

We could seriously go on forever, but here’s a list of other things you could do to celebrate World Hippo Day yourself!

• Make a hippo stuffed animal.
• Read through a list of common hippos in Canada and United States zoos to plan a visit.
• Chill out to hippos returning to a remodeled enclosure at the San Diego Zoo or read about their new resident, who relocated from Seattle.
• Play the board game Hippo (what, did you think we’d say Hungry Hungry Hippos? Not cute enough).
• And, of course, check out our articles here on Hippo Watch Blizzard Watch.