It’s a girl! Zoo finds baby hippo’s gender after 7 weeks
May 13, 2015, 12:12 PM
This Tuesday, May 12, 2015 photo provided by the San Diego Zoo Global shows the new hippopotamus calf that after nearly two months of waiting, animal care staff at the San Diego Zoo have determined is a girl. The calf, born March 23, 2015 to mother, Funani, has been named Devi. While she hasn't been weighed, keepers estimate that Devi weights between 90 and 110 pounds. (Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Global via AP)
(Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Global via AP)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — It’s a girl! Finally.
The gender of a baby hippo was surprisingly hard to find for the San Diego Zoo, taking nearly two months to uncover. But the zoo said Tuesday that it has determined with 100 percent certainty that the calf born in March is female.
Like most hippopotamus moms, Funani was secretive and protective of her baby, keeping the calf hidden in vegetation in the enclosure’s pool and using her own 4-ton body to block the baby from sight. That kept zoo staffers from learning the calf’s sex for some seven weeks.
The new girl, named Devi, weighs about 100 pounds and is expected to keep nursing with her mother for eight months.
She is the fifth baby born to Funani.
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