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The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens have just announced that Bibi the hippo is pregnant! The zoo's hippo family is soon to grow by one with the new addition expected to arrive this summer. This is Bibi's second pregnancy at the zoo, making Fiona a soon-to-be older sister.
The zoo announced the pregnancy over social media saying, "Happy National Siblings Day" with a picture of the ultrasound.
“We weren’t planning to welcome a baby this soon, but nature found a way and ignored our calendar,” The Zoo’s director of animal care, Christina Gorsuch explained to Dayton Daily News, “most forms of contraception, in hippos or humans, is not 100% reliable. The dose that was previously effective for Bibi did not prevent pregnancy this time.”
According to the Dayton Daily News, Bibi has already started hormone supplements and the reproductive physiologists at the zoo plan to perform routine ultrasounds to check on the fetus' development.
“The hippo team is excited and also nervous,” Eric Byrd, manager of Cincinnati Zoo’s Africa team told Dayton Daily News. “As most people know, Bibi’s first baby, Fiona, was born six weeks premature and wouldn’t have survived without the intervention of her human caregivers. We are hoping for a full-term pregnancy and will be doing everything we can to support Bibi.”