HOUSTON — After teasing a big announcement on Monday, the Houston Zoo on Tuesday confirmed a big new addition to its family: a 450-pound male pygmy hippopotamus named Silas.
The hippo, who is two and a half years old, actually moved to Houston from Omaha over the summer. But now after getting to know his new home, Silas is now making his public debut, the zoo said.
The zoo says the public can help these wonderful creatures by recycling cell phones, believe it or not, and visitors are encouraged to recycle their old phones at the zoo. That's because animals like Silas are native to an area that is mined for materials used in new phones.
So what's the difference between a pygmy hippo and a regular hippo?
The Houston Zoo says the pygmy hippos may look like their cousins, but they are actually smaller by nearly two tons. They also spend more time on dry land and are less territorial than the common hippo.
More about the pygmy hippopotamus from the Houston Zoo:
Pygmy hippos are herbivores and eat only plants. Silas’ keepers feed him a diet of browse, grass, hay, vegetables, lettuce, and a high fiber nutritional pellet. Browse includes edible nontoxic plants and flowers that are grown on Zoo grounds and provide additional nutrition and enrichment for the animals.
While pygmy hippos may look like their cousin the common hippopotamus, they are much smaller by about 3,500 pounds. Pygmy hippos grow only to be about 500 pounds while hippos can be 4,000 pounds. They have other differences, too. Hippos spend most of their time in rivers, and pygmy hippos spend much of their time on dry land. Pygmy hippos are less territorial than their larger counterparts as well. When their territory is encroached on by another pygmy hippo, the two are more likely to ignore each other than fight, while the common hippo is known to be a ferocious defender of its territory.
Pygmy hippos are solitary in nature, and native to West African rainforests in the countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Liberia. People can do their part to save these incredible animals by recycling cell phones at the Zoo. These devices contain a metal mined where pygmy hippos live, and recycling cell phones reduces the demand for new materials to be mined. In 2020, the Houston Zoo has recycled 762 devices.