SOUL OF ATHENS PRESENTS
Premature to Prima Donna
The Heartwarming Story of Fiona the Hippo
Fiona, the Nile hippopotamus calf at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, has become a social media superstar. She is not the first hippo to be born in a zoo, but is the first to rise to such stardom. Born too early to live on her own, her survival was unlikely. It was up to the teams at the zoo and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital to help her overcome the odds.
Fiona’s journey began in January 2017 with the discovery of her mother Bibi's pregnancy. Fiona was the first-ever ultrasound image of a Nile hippo fetus.
Expected not to give birth until March, caretakers thought they had plenty of time to baby-proof the habitat and prepare for the calf's birth, but Fiona had other plans.
Fiona arrived by surprise 15 days later.
Fiona was severely underweight. Her weight at birth was 29 pounds compared to a full-term hippo which weighs 55-120 pounds.
Just minutes after she was born her temperature began to plummet. A regular full-term hippo should be able to thermoregulate and maintain a temperature of around 96-98 degrees.
Fiona had trouble breathing because her lungs were not fully developed. For the first couple months of her life she was provided an oxygen cannula for support.
Since Fiona was unable to breathe correctly, it was impossible for her to swim in the water. As a result, her skin began to dry out and the zoo was forced to apply moisturizer to her skin so it would not crack or tear.
Fiona’s feet were extremely underdeveloped as well. A regular full-term hippo should have firm feet to help them walk on hard ground and swim in the water. This was not the case with Fiona. Her feet were very soft, gelatinous and white in color.
Fiona was severely underweight. Her weight at birth was 29 pounds compared to a full-term hippo which weighs 55-120 pounds.
Just minutes after she was born her temperature began to plummet. A regular full-term hippo should be able to thermoregulate and maintain a temperature of around 96-98 degrees.
Fiona had trouble breathing because her lungs were not fully developed. For the first couple months of her life she was provided an oxygen cannula for support.
Since Fiona was unable to breathe correctly, it was impossible for her to swim in the water. As a result, her skin began to dry out and the zoo was forced to apply moisturizer to her skin so it would not crack or tear.
Fiona’s feet were extremely underdeveloped as well. A regular full-term hippo should have firm feet to help them walk on hard ground and swim in the water. This was not the case with Fiona. Her feet were very soft, gelatinous and white in color.
Fiona was so small and vulnerable that she required 24-hour care. Luckily, Bibi was trained to stand still for ultrasounds, so caretakers were able to collect milk. Unable to feed on her own, Fiona was tube fed a mixture of her mom's milk, in an attempt to improve her health.
Because Fiona’s caretakers were the first people to ever milk a hippo, they saved some and sent it to the Smithsonian Milk Repository.
“Since we are able to get daily samples of Bibi’s milk, we have a rare opportunity to learn more about specific changes in this species,” said Zoo nutritionist Barbara Henry.
When Fiona had finally learned to feed on her own, she began teething, which was a major setback to her progress. Most hippos don’t begin teething until several months after they’re born, but she began struggling during feeding times; biting and chewing on anything she could. Fiona was slowly eating less and less and within 72 hours she wasn’t eating at all, despite all the pain medication, teething toys and frequent gum massages. Fiona had become dehydrated, increasingly lethargic and unresponsive. The health of her kidneys also declined and she needed to go back to tube feedings.
"Preemies have very tiny and unstable veins, and even though our vet team was able to get multiple IVs placed, the veins could not sustain the IV and would blow. Lucky for us, we’re right next door to a world-class facility with a whole department dedicated to working with difficult veins.”
Christina Gorsuch
Curator of Mammals, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Fiona’s veins were too fragile to allow an IV placement for life-saving fluids. Rushing against the clock, the zoo reached out to the Cincinnati Children’s Vascular Access Team to provide a special IV catheter. Drip by drip, Fiona began to show small signs of recovery, and began bottle feeding again. In response, she started getting better; she slowly began to be able to eat normal food.
Before she could meet Bibi, Fiona needed to learn how to nurse on her own, walk, swim and get a lot bigger, for her own safety. Once Fiona began to walk and feed on her own, she could move on to learning other skills like swimming.
Fiona hadn't been with her mom since the day she was born. The caretakers weren't sure how their first interaction would go.
It is known that in the wild, hippos are super dangerous. Even though they tend to be nicer in zoos, the care staff was scared that Henry might reject her.
It had been more than 20 years since Henry last interacted with a baby hippo. Bibi had embraced Fiona easily, but Henry was hesitant. He didn’t make any direct attempts to harm her, but it was clear that he was uncomfortable sharing space and didn’t know how to interact with her.
The care team supervised Henry and Fiona's first interactions, giving them room together in their outdoor habitat. All three hippos together in the larger space gave Henry an opportunity to learn from Bibi and give Fiona room to move away from him if something were to go awry.
By day three, Henry was completely relaxed by Fiona’s presence. He began to embrace her prodding, even lying in the water and allowing her to poke around. Bibi had even earned trust in Henry’s actions and let her guard down; dozing off several feet away from the other two.
They quickly developed a routine for their napping, snacking and playing. When they slept together, they huddled close and maintained contact just like bloats in the wild do.
“In spite of the many, many hardships Fiona has had to overcome in her little life, her fighting spirit and incredible will has helped her to prevail time and again. And in a world where there seem to be so many insurmountable problems, Fiona’s story serves as a reminder to us all that humans are capable of some truly amazing things if we work together and dare to believe."
Wendy Rice
Africa Head Keeper, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Fiona’s dad, Henry, passed away of natural causes in October 2017.
R.I.P. Henry the Hippo
1981-2017
Since then, Bibi and Fiona (known by their celebrity name as BiFi, pronounced beefy), recognize that he is gone but are still getting by just fine as a bloat of two. Fiona has continued to grow with no major health issues.
Fiona celebrated her 2nd birthday on January 24, 2019. Considered the equivalent of a elementary school-aged child, Fiona still lives at home with her mom, has gained over 1,000 pounds, and continues to grow and learn as children do.
Fiona shares 45 pounds of Timothy hay with her mother Bibi every day. She also has her own portions of grain, lettuce, yellow squash and cucumber. She occasionally eats melon as a treat as well.
Fiona is still as sassy as ever and has left a huge impact on her community, caretakers, and the world. She has a loyal worldwide fanbase who has showered her with constant attention. Her most popular video has over 15 million views and her official Facebook video series, The Fiona Show, has more than 1.6 million followers.
Michelle Curley, the zoo's Communications Director, stands in front of her office's impressive collection of Fiona merchandise and pulls her hair to the side to show her Fiona tattoo.
"Some of the biggest impact stories I hear are [from] those that have spent a lot of time in a hospital, themselves or their children, and they say that they would watch her social media updates every day and it kind of kept them going and help them fight the fight with a positive attitude and they believed in themselves, in Fiona, that if a baby hippo can make it, so can they."
Jenna Wingate
Senior Keeper, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden