Sweden's Parken Zoo Welcomes Rare Pygmy Hippo Baby

A Swedish zoo is celebrating the birth of a rare pygmy hippo baby that weighed less that 6 lbs at birth.

Born on August 2 at Parken Zoo, the female baby pygmy hippo was dubbed 'Michelin Man' because of her appearance i..e skin rolls. Olivia was born to mother Karukina and father Anton, according to the Aftonbladet Newspaper reports.

After birth, the baby hippo stayed with her mother for a long time and met her father only when she was some 3 ½ week old.

"She is the cutest little fatty you can imagine," Jennie Westander, a zoologist at Parken zoo, tells the paper. Olivia was born under an international breeding programme, and after spending two years with her mother, she will be sent off to another zoo in Europe.

The officials say that in the breeding program that Olivia is a part of, the dwarf hippos are monitored by the co-ordinators.

Pygmy hippos are native to West Africa. The pygmy hippo is nocturnal and is one of the two extant species of Hippopotamidae family. They are herbivorous and feed on ferns, fruits, plants, grasses and fruits. They are listed as endangered species as the World Conservation Union estimates that there are less than 3,000 pygmy hippos surviving in the wild. They are considered as dwarf hippopotamus.

These species face a great threat from habitat loss, poaching, hunting and other natural predators.