Antwerp Zoo welcomes new breeding pair of pygmy hippos
Antwerp Zoo has welcomed a new breeding pair of pygmy hippos for the first time in more than 25 years. Following the arrival of female Nimba last summer, male Dabou has now settled into the zoo’s renovated hippo building. With the pair in place, the zoo hopes to support the European conservation programme for this critically endangered species.
Only an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 adult pygmy hippos remain in the wild, confined to four West African countries: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast. The species continues to face severe threats, including hunting and habitat loss due to deforestation.
Not rushing into breeding
By joining the continent-wide breeding initiative, Antwerp Zoo aims to contribute to long-term population stability. However, Nimba and Dabou will not live together permanently. As naturally solitary animals that typically only meet during the mating season, they will have separate indoor and outdoor enclosures and pools.
For now, Dabou is getting to know his own space, while he and Nimba can already see, smell and hear one another. “If there’s a healthy interest soon, we can introduce them physically,” says keeper Sarah. Mating can take place both on land and in shallow water.
Keepers stress that breeding will not happen immediately. “We’re waiting until we get signals that they want to mate, in a year’s time," explains zookeeper Lynn Van Steenvoort. "Dabou has only just been separated from his mother. He’s one and a half years old, still an adolescent for pygmy hippos, so he’s not really thinking about it yet.”
© BELGA PHOTO HANDOUT JONAS VERHULST
The zoo hopes the pair will quickly become visitor favourites, as pygmy hippos are often appreciated for their expressive faces. They share their habitat with palm-fringed bats, white-crested turacos and white-headed buffalo weavers.
Despite being closely related to the common hippopotamus, they are around ten times smaller and differ in many other ways. “Pygmy hippos live alone, while large hippos are gregarious,” Van Steenvoort says. “Large hippos live in the African savanna, while pygmy hippos live in woodlands with much more shade. As a result, they spend much more time on land than in the water.”
#FlandersNewsService | Male pygmy hippopotamus Dabou at the Zoo Antwerpen on 14 November, 2025
© BELGA PHOTO HANDOUT JONAS VERHULST
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