The Louisville Zoo in Kentucky on Friday welcomed a 5-year-old hippo with an affinty for uncooked yams to its backyard.
Zemora, a female Pygmy Hippopotamus, arrived from the Jackson Zoo in Mississippi and will be rooming with Maji, a 28-year-old male pygmy, in the “Gorilla Forest” exhibit, according to a Louisville Zoo press release.
Zookeepers said, “Zemora seems to prefer the smaller pools in the upper part of the exhibit while the Zoo’s male hippo Maji spends more time in the main pool at the foot of the exhibit.”
The Louisville Zoo
She also enjoys eating uncooked yams as a treat, the press release added.
As pygmy hippos, Zemora and Maji are about half the height of common hippos, their well-known cousins. They also weigh just a quarter of what the common hippo does, between 400 and 600 pounds.
The duo will move to an indoor exhibit with “bedroom pools” around October or November when the weather cools, according to the zoo.
