Adorable baby pygmy hippo makes debut at San Diego Zoo

Akobi, a baby pygmy hippo.
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/San Diego Zoo)

Akobi, the first pygmy hippo successfully born at the San Diego Zoo in more than three decades, made his public debut this week, two months after his birth.

His name is Yoruba for "firstborn," a fitting name as he is his mother Mabel's first calf. Pygmy hippos live in the forests of West Africa, and there are fewer than 3,000 left in the wild. That's why Akobi's caretaker, Leanne Klinski, is so thrilled by his birth. "The fact that we got to this day is a huge, huge, huge thing and we're really excited," she told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.