Bibi and Fritz days after his birth.Photo: Cincinnati Zoo/Twitter
Fiona the hippo’s brother officially has a name!
After filtering through over 90,000 name suggestions for the calf from fans, the animal care team at the Cincinnati Zoo had been between two names: Fritz and Ferguson. But on Monday, Senior Hippo Keeper Jenna Wingate announced the final decision on theTODAYshow, saying that zoo officials had decided on Frtiz!
“Everyone loves an alliteration, but we didn’t necessarily do that on purpose,” she said on the NBC morning show, adding that “Ferguson was super cute and we all loved that as well” but that “Fritz just seemed to fit him.”
It’s also what the public wanted. According to a release from the zoo, when choosing between the two final names, “a whopping 223,542 votes were received, with 125,183 [56%] in favor of Fritz.”
Fritz was born on Aug. 3 around 10 p.m. local time.
Since then, Cincinnati zookeepers continued to monitor Bibi’s new addition, revealing days later that he was a boy.
“The sex didn’t matter much to the hippo team, but it will be interesting to observe and compare the behavioral differences between a hand-raised girl and a mom-raised boy,” Gorsuch added. “Will this calf be as comfortable with humans as Fiona is? Will he be less independent? Will he love cameras?”
Cincinnati Zoo Instagram
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While officials wait to find out the answers to that, Fritz has continued to bond with mom Bibi.
He’s also grown a lot. “He’s doing wonderful. They can grow so quickly. They can gain about 2-3 lbs. a day, so he’s already over 100 lbs.,” Waingate said onTODAY. “And he’s really brave and curious. He’s a ton of fun.”
The new hippo has also still yet to meet his 2000-lb. sister Fiona and 4500-lb., 19-year-old dad Tucker, who have remained separate so the mother-son could connect.
Zoo members have access to live cams in the outdoor habitat and can watch the action in Hippo Cove from 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. daily, the zoo previously said in a release. Plenty of hippo updates are made daily on the zoo’sFacebook,Instagram,Twitter,TikTok, andYouTubeaccounts.
Those will all go dark soon when the zoo starts habitat and hippo introductions begin, the zoo said on Monday.
source: people.com
