A zoo in the U.S. state of Kansas has welcomed the birth of a healthy baby pygmy hippopotamus, raising hope for a species that’s becoming rare in the wild.
The yet-to-be-named male pygmy hippo calf, born June 26, is the fifth offspring of parents Pluto and Posie since their arrival at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in the city of Goddard from different zoos in 2014. “Posie is an attentive mother, nursing well and keeping the baby close — a true professional,” Sierra Smith, a keeper at Tanganyika, said in a statement.
The zoo had previously announced the birth of another male calf to the same couple in December last year.
Pygmy hippos (Choeropsis liberiensis) are the lesser known — and more threatened — cousins of the common hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius). While the latter is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, pygmy hippos, named because of their much smaller size, are categorized as endangered.
In the wild, pygmy hippos are only found deep inside the forests of four West African countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. While the latest IUCN assessment, from 2015, puts the species’ population at roughly 2,500 individuals, “we don’t really know” the true numbers, Neus Estela, a technical specialist with Fauna & Flora in Liberia previously told Mongabay’s Jeremy Hance.
Moreover, the forests where the small hippos live have experienced deforestation and are all fragmented, isolating the hippos and preventing gene flow, Hance reported.
In Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire, for example, gold mining is a big threat, said Elie Bogui, a coordinator for the Taï Hippo Project.
One major challenge for pygmy hippo conservation, Hance reported, is the lack of financial and logistical support for the species’ conservation. This is despite a recent spike in online popularity of pygmy hippos, thanks to Moo Deng, a calf born at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Bang Phra, Thailand, in July 2024, which soon became an internet sensation for its cute, playful attitude.
Estela said that unlike elephants, chimpanzees and pangolins in Africa, pygmy hippos don’t receive targeted funding for conservation; rather, they “benefit more from general conservation efforts.”
As wild populations decrease, captive breeding of pygmy hippos could play a role in the conservation and survival of the species.
“Every pygmy hippo birth, whether in human care or in their native habitat, is critical for their ongoing survival,” said Samantha Russak, curator of research and welfare at Tanganyika Wildlife Park. “This is Posie and Pluto’s fifth calf since their arrival at the park in 2014. With only three pygmy hippo births recorded in the U.S. last year, this calf holds particular significance for cooperative conservation programs aimed at preserving genetic diversity within the species.”

Images: A male pygmy hippo calf was born at Tanganyika Wildlife Park, in the U.S. state of Kansas, on June 26, 2025. Both images courtesy of Tanganyika Wildlife Park.