A hippo-baby at Vandalur after 18 years

CHENNAI: It was celebration time at the Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur on Monday as one of its inmates, Soundariya, a 12-year-old hippopotamus, gave birth to a calf, taking the total number of hippos in the zoo to four.Since a hippo is giving birth to a baby in the zoo after 18 years, the management is upbeat about the event and the staff is also giving full attention to the new born, besides providing the mother with additional nourishment. She is now fed 20 plantains, two packets of breads, several varieties of greens and grass in additional to its regular diet, a press release said.Soundariya was brought to the zoo from Mysore in 2006 while the male hippo, Vayapuri, was brought from a zoo in Basel in Switzerland in 2002. Vayapuri, who is also 12-years old, is the lone male of the species in the zoo, which has another female hippo other than Soundariya.Hippos give birth inside the water. The mother feeds the baby inside water during the day and, on land at night. A baby hippo can swim soon after its birth and comes to the surface only to breathe.The gestation period for hippos is eight months. While the males reach puberty between seven and eight years and the females at three to four years.