[music playing]
- Out at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo,
there's some exciting news at Hippo Lake.
- Our beautiful female hippo, Cuddles, gave
birth to a little male calf.
And we've named him Kani, which means strength.
Cuddles actually gave birth in the early hours of the morning.
That's quite natural for hippos, to give birth
in the shallows of the water.
This precious little hippo calf, he is the first male calf born
in 24 years within our region.
So he's going to play an extremely
valuable and important role within the future breeding
program.
- Today, keeper Carolene is doing the rounds.
Checking in on baby Kani's daily development is
an important part of her work.
- Good job, Cuddles!
Kani, are you hiding?
He's thriving.
He's approximately 150 kilos right now,
so he's developing really well.
As you can see, he's putting on quite some substantial weight.
And that's just due to his mom Cuddles being very nurturing.
But her milk is really high in protein.
So they tend to pack it on quite readily.
- The first few months of a hippo's life
are hugely important.
- During this imprinting phase, you
know, mom Cuddles likes to keep little Kani away
and protected from the rest of the group.
Little Kani, as he develops, he needs to learn how
to behave as a hippo as well.
And this is where mom is really important, especially
when he meets dad, and of course,
when he meets his older sisters and his aunt.
So everything from body posturing, vocals,
how he moves in the water, as well,
is pretty important for his development.
Hippos are naturally an aquatic species,
even though they come out on land quite a lot to go grazing.
Hippos have these remarkable features
where they are able to close their nostrils,
because they're very, very muscular.
And that stops all the water going down
into their respiratory system.
Kani, for the first few days in the pond system,
was very clunky.
He was trying to get coordinated.
But now, he's starting to fine tune it.
And he's actually quite acrobatic in the water
system now.
And he can hold his breath for a lot longer, too.
- At the zoo, keepers are always making seasonal adjustments
to care for the animals.
So for Kani and Cuddles, it means today,
they're going to enjoy the hippo version of a spa treatment.
- Hippos in winter tend to be out of the water a lot more as
opposed to what they would be in summer.
So that means that their skin dries out a lot more readily,
which forms lots of cracks.
And they can be quite susceptible to little bacteria
sores and so forth.
So we need to apply what I call is some hippo beauty lotion.
It's just a mixture of some [inaudible] oil,
so it's a little bit more hydrating on the skin,
mixed with water, of course.
Hippos need a bit of pampering.
I think they're probably the most
pampered hippos that I know of.
- It's clear that Kani is being well cared for
and is one of the only two males in the region.
Kani will have a big future as a breeding bull.
But for now, life is just one big adventure.