Wildlife World Zoo welcomes baby pygmy hippo, asks visitors to help pick name

PHOENIX — Litchfield Park’s Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium and Safari Park (WWZ) announced Monday the arrival of a baby female pygmy hippo, an endangered species that is primarily from West Africa.

The newest addition to the zoo doesn’t have a name yet, and the public has been asked to help with that.

Everyone who comes to visit the hippo can cast their vote on one of four names by scanning a QR code outside the exhibit. The choices are Cadbury, Twixi, Jellybean and Taffy, according to a press release.

The winning name will be announced once voting closes after “several weeks,” according to WWZ president Kristy Hayden. No date was provided for the end of the voting period.

Hayden said on KTAR News’ The Mike Broomhead Show Tuesday that the animal’s presence is a “really big deal for the world of conservation.”

“People think that the adults are babies,” Hayden said. “So, if you can even imagine a tiny little 20-pound size hippo, it’s just too much for comprehension really.”

Pygmy hippos primarily live in swamps and forests, and there are fewer than 3,000 in the world, according to the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums.

According to the Pygmy Hippo Foundation, the typical baby weighs between 10 and 14 pounds, and a fully grown pygmy hippo weighs less than a quarter of a full-size hippopotamus.

Hayden added that most knowledge on the species has been collected through professional care, as they are “elusive” and therefore almost impossible to study in the wild.

“To have a baby born here is really exciting and then to have a successful breeding program for the species is equally as exciting because we’re creating more genetic diversity for the pygmy hippos,” Hayden said.

The zoo will be able to accomplish the goal of creating additional genetic diversity through relationships with another zoo that has an unrelated male hippo, according to Hayden.

“We can then move that baby over to another zoo that has a facility that can house two hippos and hopefully start a breeding program of their own,” Hayden said.

Candy was clearly a theme for the name options of their own baby hippo, and Hayden said her personal choice is Jellybean.

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