Fiona Update: Swimming!

Fightin’ Fiona the preemie hippo keeps getting stronger, fatter and better — and now she’s getting wetter. With her IV tube removed, Fiona is free to practice wading in the water that will be an important part of her adult life. Follow her progress at the Cincinnati Zoo website. (Thanks to Jenny D. for the good news.)

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18 thoughts on “Fiona Update: Swimming!

  1. Claire February 24, 2017 / 2:02 pm

    One of the local news stations posted that Fiona’s care team told them she feels like a wet avocado! So precious =)

    • Murray C. February 24, 2017 / 2:14 pm

      I was just asking myself that question and while I hadn’t come up with a verbal answer, that’s a great description of what I was imagining.

  2. Ricky's Mom February 24, 2017 / 2:07 pm

    I checked this first thing this morning. So full of Yay!

    Yesterday’s video with the teeny snort at the end is adorable, too.

  3. Smartypants February 24, 2017 / 2:50 pm

    Wow, she’s so confident in the water – so much splashing and rolling!

    • Murray C. February 24, 2017 / 5:23 pm

      And ear thwippage! And that yawn! Ah, she’s grand.

  4. DebG February 24, 2017 / 4:28 pm

    Great job, Fiona! Look at her go!

    • DebG February 24, 2017 / 5:20 pm

      And I just ordered my #TeamFiona sweatshirt to support the zoo. Can’t wait for it to come in.

      • Claire February 24, 2017 / 6:08 pm

        Oooh I just saw that! I got a shirt when they were raising money to get the hippos in the first place, so now I of course need a matching Fiona shirt!

        By the way, the Cincinnati Zoo is a really amazing place. It’s the “greenest” zoo in America thanks to tons of sustainability initiatives, and it’s located in the middle of the city so it’s extraordinarily accessible to all the city’s residents. It’s home to the oldest zoo building still in use in the U.S. They’ve done amazing work to save the Sumatran Rhino from the brink of extinction, and they specialize in small cats (the cutest!). It’s just a wonderful place full of hardworking, awesome people, and I’m so glad Fiona is helping more people discover it.

        They also have some tiger cubs and a baby okapi right now! Okapis are so gorgeous. They look like they’re covered in velvet!

  5. Smartypants February 24, 2017 / 6:03 pm

    What’s that Shakespeare line – something like “Tho’ she be but small, she is fierce”…?

    “The Fightin’ Fionas” needs to be either a rock band or a roller-derby team 😀

    • Murray C. February 24, 2017 / 6:12 pm

      Mud wrestling.

      • fkaWaldenPond February 24, 2017 / 7:01 pm

        😀

    • Debg February 24, 2017 / 7:49 pm

      Though she be tiny, yet she be fierce. I believe from Midsummer Night’s Dream.

    • Ricky's Mom February 24, 2017 / 7:52 pm

      HELENA
      Oh, when she’s angry, she is keen and shrewd!
      She was a vixen when she went to school.
      And though she be but little, she is fierce.

      (said of Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

    • Smartypants February 24, 2017 / 11:23 pm

      Thank you guys, I knew you would know the line!

  6. Faye February 24, 2017 / 8:57 pm

    I am removing my shoes and rolling up my pants. Booking a train to Cincinnati Zoo! I am short so pool supervision sitting is second nature for me. I even have my own towel!

    • Muppet2171 February 25, 2017 / 4:32 am

      Good you know where your towel is…

  7. Alice Shortcake February 25, 2017 / 2:41 pm

    Paddling with baby hippos – the new swimming with dolphins!

  8. sugitomo February 26, 2017 / 4:37 pm

    Mesmerized by those tiny twitchy ears of hers.

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