Newly named hippo baby - Kendi

Taronga Western Plains Zoo’s five-week old hippo calf now has a name - Kendi - announced at the Zoo this morning by the Today Show!

Kendi (African origin) means ‘loved one’, and was decided on by the public in a recent vote.

Mother, Cuddles, has been keeping a watchful eye over her active baby and has been doing a great job. Together, they spend most of the day in the water and as hippo infants are known to do, Kendi has been happy nursing off her mother underwater.

When they’re not swimming, Cuddles and Kendi have been enjoying splashes of winter sun, and lay together on the bank for hours at a time.

Each day, Kendi is getting more confident on land and in water, but her special bond with mum means she never strays too far.

Hippo calves suckle their mother for about one year, and generally reach full maturity at five to seven years of age. Provided there are favourable conditions, grown females in the wild will birth one calf every two years.

Visit our Hippo calf these school holidays! There is so much to see and do at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

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