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Cincinnati Zoo Announces the Name of Newborn Hippo

By Margherita Cole on August 17, 2022

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On August 3, 2022, the Cincinnati Zoo welcomed an adorable male baby hippo. The zoo team held a fan vote to decide on the name for the newest member of the hippo family, and it came down to a decision between Fritz and Ferguson. After over 200,000 votes were cast, the zookeepers happily announced that the chosen name for the hippo is…Fritz!

“We would have been happy with either name, but we really think the name Fritz fits this spunky little guy’s personality,” Cincinnati Zoo’s head hippo keeper, Wendy Rice, says. “We also thought it was funny that it was suggested because ‘Fritz’ is here due to Bibi’s birth control being ‘on the fritz.’” Bibi is a 23-year-old hippo who previously gave birth to a premature baby named Fiona, who required human intervention to survive. Due to this, the hippo keepers were nervous about Bibi's second pregnancy.

Fortunately, all went well, and Fritz was born twice the weight of his sister. Currently two weeks old, he is already walking and exploring his habitat under the supervision of his mom. “We will continue to expose Fritz to the habitat more and more in the coming days,” Cincinnati Zoo’s director of animal care, Christina Gorsuch, shares. “Once we’re confident that he and Bibi are comfortable in all corners of that space, visitors will get a chance to see them.”

You can keep up with baby Fritz by following the Cincinnati Zoo on Instagram.