Some sad news: Henry, the father of Fiona, has died at 36. According to WLWT5, Henry was put to sleep after battling an infection had left him too weak to recover. “We are all so sad to lose him. Everyone loved him. He was a sweet, gentle giant with a big personality,” said Cincinnati Zoo Curator of Mammals Christina Gorsuch.
Papa Henry passed away today 🙁 🙁 🙁 am a sad hipper pic.twitter.com/KuunShvwnH
— Fiona The Baby Hippo (@FionaHippo) October 31, 2017
🙁 Poor Henry.
Sad news indeed ?
At least Fiona still has her mama….but this is very sad news. 🙁 Henry seemed to be a very sweet hippo. Of course, he had to be to have such a sweet daughter!
O no!! Henry was such a kind hippo, patiently letting his little girl practically crawl into his huge maw as she explored… He could have batted her away so easily but never did. “It’s ok, take your time, Sweetie.” ?
Oh, I am so sad to hear this. We were just getting to know him! I’m glad, at least, that Fiona is on her way to being a glorious grown-up hippo and that this didn’t happen when she was still a wee baby.
Poor Fiona .. Lost her dad at a young age.
Such sad news. I loved his cameos in Fiona vids.
This makes me so sad. It was wonderful to watch Fiona interact with both parents. Glad she got to know him and he had time to see his very special little girl growing up so fast. He was such a gentle giant with her. RIP Henry. You’ll be missed by so many. 🙁
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that – he seemed like he was getting better too. I’ll miss that big whiskery face.
You did a great job, Henry.
I has a sad now.
I’m glad they got to know each other first.
This is such very sad news. I hope that Bibi will not pine for him. I don’t know much about how hippos bond. One thing is for sure; the zoo worked tirelessly to care for Henry, just as they did (and do) for Fiona.
Oh this is very sad. RIP Mr. Henry, you gentle giant. What a good papa. xo
The zoo has not yet posted anything on the Fiona blog, but there was a substantial post from yesterday that I link to here. At that point they were still working valiantly to save Henry’s life. http://blog.cincinnatizoo.org/2017/10/30/hippo-blog-helping-henry/
So sad. It must be a very big loss for BiBi and Fiona, stranded as they are in a human world, no matter how loving the humans are.
?
So sad. We’ll miss you Henry! 🙁
In many ways the reproductive nature of most mammals is unlike humans. Most mammals don’t have menopause, for instance; the females breed till they die. But I have to wonder, in this case, if one human characteristic carries over into hippos. Older fathers have more defective sperm, which in humans can cause miscarriages and birth defects https://www.menshealth.com/health/age-and-risks-of-fathering-a-child . I don’t see mention of premature births, but I have to wonder if Henry’s age had anything to do with Fiona’s difficult start in life. (Except, as discussed later, Henry may have been old for a zoo hippo, but he may not have been all that old for hippos generally, so my “old sperm” theory may be nonsense.)
In the wild, hippos are apparently one of those species where one male mates with many females and most males never get to mate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus#Social_spacing . I assume that means sometimes a bull takes over a harem from another bull. So it seems like they are not one of those “mate for life” species. If the zoo brings in a new male (who, as the only male, will automatically be the dominant male), my guess is everyone will get along fine, and Fiona and Bibi can have a male figure in their lives again. Or they might bring in a female; apparently in the wild the females like to hang out together, so that might be even more natural for Bibi.
BTW FWIW that same article elsewhere says hippos typically live 40-50 years and one once lived to 61 in a zoo. So Henry really did get cheated. And if the figure of 35 for average lifespan quoted in the zoo blog Ricky’s Mom linked to is right that means hippos don’t do well in zoos. That surprises me; I’d think having nothing to do but sleep and eat would agree with them. They don’t seem like a restless species that would get frustrated in captivity. Hmm.
Thanks for all the info. It answered all my wonderings.
RIP, Henry.
Good-bye, Henry. You will be missed.