Baby Farasi Escapes Death and Feeding to Tigers

March 27, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Zoo Watch 

Well, that headline got your attention, didn’t it? The media has been all over this story in recent months, making little Farasi so well known he was voted Swiss of the Year for 2008. Here’s the lowdown. A baby hippopotamus was born in the space-challenged Basel Zoo in Switzerland last November. Normally, the birth of another baby hippo would be reported in a blog or two or in local newspapers. However, the media fire storm started when a zoo spokeswoman was quoted saying there was a lack of space at the zoo and that the institution’s policy is to euthanize surplus animals or put them into predators’ cages as food. Oops!

Even the venerable Wall Street Journal reported that little Farasi might be killed or put into the tiger cage. Yikes! Basel zoo officials moved quickly to stem these rumors. “We’re confident we’ll find a place for him,” said spokeswoman Tanja Dietrich, adding that media reports were misleading. “There are rare cases in which we have to kill an animal” and feed it to carnivores in the zoo, she added and went on to say that it was unlikely in Farasi’s case. The little fellow needs to stay with his mum for another year as he is still nursing. When he’s weaned, he’ll be given away to another European zoo, as have his mother Helvetia’s seven previous hippobabes.

Apparently, European zoos have a policy of letting animals reproduce at will rather than sterilizing them, leading to a surplus of offspring. One good thing to take away here, I think, is the fact that hippos can reproduce in captivity. This gives me hope for their future as they are becoming endangered in the wild.

The most recent news on this story is that the Basel Zoo now says that Farasi will stay in the zoo until a home can be found for him elsewhere. It sounds like the public can’t stomach the idea of hippo meat.

The best pictures I have found for Farasi are on the Seaway Blog. If anyone has any photos of Farasi that you would be willing to let us post here, we would be very grateful! For a very complete article on this subject, see WorldZooToday.com or Los Angeles Times. See a video below from the Wall Street Journal:

More on Hippo Sweat

March 26, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Hippos on the Loose 
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Hippo sweat sounds really kind of gross. I’ve never seen any close-up and in person (unlike Brady Barr), but I understand that it is reddish-orange in color and resembles blood. It’s not even really sweat, but a liquid that exudes from large and deep pores in the hippo’s skin that blocks ultraviolet light and microbial growth. Unlike human sweat, hippo secretions don’t seem to cool the animals, who tend to just lumber back into the water to cool down. Of course, scientists can’t agree on the cooling property of hippo sweat. It seems clear, however, that the sweat prevents growth of two types of disease-causing bacteria, which may help explain why hippo gashes and wounds rarely seem to get infected, even though male hippos have frequent, fierce fights. (Here’s a good, scientific article on it if you want to learn more: Red Sweat: Hippo skin oozes antibiotic sunscreen.)

Now a group of U.S. researchers at the University of California claims to have uncovered the secrets of hippo sweat and is speculating on the marketability of a four-in-one product including a sunscreen, sunblock, antiseptic and insect repellent containing the magic hippo sweat ingredient. University of California engineering professor Christopher Vinney and his colleagues analyzed hippo sweat collected at a Fresno zoo, and found that it is composed of two types of liquid crystalline structures. One contains microscopic structures that scatter light. The other thins the sweat so it spreads evenly over the hippo’s broad backside. (MSNBC has a great article on this subject if you are like Elmo and want to know more.)

The findings are published in the current issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. I don’t exactly subscribe to this tome of knowledge, so if anyone would like to send me a copy, I would really appreciate it. I want to know what I’m doing when I slather my skin with hippo gunk before crisping in the sun.

Fat Hippo Restaurant Opens in NYC

March 25, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Places to Go 

The all new Fat Hippo restaurant opened up at 71 Clinton in New York City. It has a cool, clean vibe and a reasonably priced menu, but no liquor license yet.

You can find out more at NYmag.com, at Who Ate the Big Apple? or by calling the restaurant at 212-228-0994. If you are a New Yorker and have been to this restaurant, we’d love to hear from you!

Set of Six Beach Hippos

March 10, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Goods & Sundry 
Set of Six Beach Hippos

Set of Six Beach Hippos

I have to say I wasn’t sure about buying these little guys, but they are selling out quickly! Maybe other people find them as cute as I do! They come in a set of six and are dressed for going to the beach to snorkle, sunbathe, dig, and sightsee and are reasonably priced at $6.95 for the set. If you’d like to buy a set for your favorite hippo collector, please follow this link.

Jessica the Pet Hippo

March 9, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Famous Hippos 
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If you pay attention at all to news of the hippo world, you have certainly heard of Jessica the pet hippo. Found washed up as a baby by a South African family over 7 years ago, Jessica has been fed and pampered ever since. She is even allowed into the house and can open the door herself! I’m totally down with having a pet hippo but I’m not sure I’d want it in the house – what about that spraying poop? It’s bad enough to clean my cats’ litter boxes – I wouldn’t want to wipe up a plume of poop all over my walls. Anyway, here’s the video. You can make up your own mind about keeping a hippo as a pet.

Hippos Lick Crocs, Crocs Don’t Care

March 1, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Hippo Flix 
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Hippos and crocodiles are death walking to humans (or should I say death stomping and slithering?), but neither of these ferocious creatures seems to mind the other, at least in this video:

Here the crocodiles carry on with whatever crocs do in their little croc world, completely ignoring the nosy, licking, salivating hippos. How ’bout that.

Buy the Happy Hippo Sandwich Shop

February 28, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · 2 Comments
Filed under: Places to Go 

The Happy Hippo Sandwich Shop at 5776 Broadway in Sacramento, California, is for sale! No, they don’t serve hippopotamus sandwiches, just the regular cow, turkey, and chicken varieties. Hmm, why is it okay to eat cute little lambs and sheep but not hippos? Not that I want to eat a hippo, mind you, but it’s a question that is just eating away at me, so to speak. This also puts me in mind of the Shel Silverstein poem, Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich, which goes like this:

A hippo sandwich is easy to make.
All you do is simply take
One slice of bread,
One slice of cake,
Some mayonnaise,
One onion ring,
One hippopotamus,
One piece of string,
A dash of pepper–
That ought to do it, And now comes the problem… Biting into it!

Well, duh!!!! Cut up the hippo into steaks, silly! Okay, please don’t email me about how it’s really mean to eat hippos – I’m just kidding here, folks! :)

Anyway, if you’ve always secretly wanted to own a sandwich shop and are ready to let your inner entrepreneur free, and don’t mind living in Sacramento, why not check out the Happy Hippo? The shop is approximately 866 square feet in a space that rents for $1,948.50 per month with a 3% annual increase (that seems a little steep to me, but what do I know!) The lease expires October 31, 2016. The shop is located near a bunch of medical offices – hey, doctors need to eat, too! The current owners will provide 7 days of free training. Although one would think you’d already know how to make sandwiches if you are buying a sandwich shop. Anyway, how hard is it to make a sandwich? Even I can do it! Included in the $79,000 sale price is all the decor, inventory, and equipment. If this is the business for you, please call Frank at 916-770-0409.

Now, I’m off to make some sandwiches – river horse cold cuts, anyone?

Hippo Mojo Adopts a Hippo at the Philadelphia Zoo

February 27, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · 1 Comment
Filed under: General News 

One of the things we decided early on when we were brainstorming about starting up Hippo Mojo was that we wanted to donate a percentage of our profits to charity, specifically to an organization that helps hippos, whether in the wild or in captivity. We had no idea how much to donate but we Googled around a little and found out that companies donate anywhere from 1 to 5 percent of their gross profit or net profit. We decided to play it safe initially and commit 1 percent of our net profit to charity. Well, unfortunately, last year was a tough year to start a business, what with it being the “worst recession since the Great Depression” as the media likes to put it, and we made no profits. In fact, we lost money. Most of our cash went into purchasing inventory and, of course, there were other start-up fees. (That’s okay – we are in this business for the long haul!) So are we off the hook for donating money for 2008? No way! Hippos need our help. So we decided to start in our local area and participate in the Philadelphia Zoo’s adopt an animal program. There was a long list of animals to choose from, but obviously we chose the hippo – duh! We decided to give $100 because that was a nice solid amount and that’s how much we had in our checking account. :) (I am so not kidding!)

The Philadelphia Zoo has two hippos: Unna and Cindy. I have actually been there to see them, but it was a hot August day, and they did not come out of the water to greet us. Harrumph. Well, even if the girls were indifferent or ungrateful, the zoo is not. We got a nice thank you letter and an official adoption certificate (below).

Philadelphia Zoo Hippo Adoption Certificate

Philadelphia Zoo Hippo Adoption Certificate

The zoo gives you lots of nice benefits when you adopt an animal, including a 4 x 6 color photo of your animal; an Animal Fact Sheet; Philadelphia Zoo email newsletters; an invitation for two to ADOPT Day (includes admission to the Philadelphia Zoo) and more. I can’t wait for the ADOPT Day, which is held the first Saturday in October and includes special keeper talks, animal feedings, and behind the scenes tours. Maybe they’ll let us touch the hippos! Okay, probably not – that would be CRAZY! Anyway, should be fun.

Over this coming year, I’ll be compiling a list of organizations that help hippos and I’ll post it here when it’s done. If you can help me with this list, please send an email or post a comment. We’d love to hear from you!

The “Pretty Flamingo” is a Hippo

February 26, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Hippo Flix 
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YouTube is a continual source of wonder and amusement for me. How do people come up with these things???!!! This video features an animated hippo and Manfred Mann’s song, “Pretty Flamingo.” Who knew the flamingo was actually a hippo? Enjoy!

The Hippopottermiss

February 25, 2009 by Hippo Honcho · 1 Comment
Filed under: Hippopotamania 

Some of the most amazing hippo pottery that I have ever seen is created by British expatriate Jennifer Robinson. Jen “The Hippopottermiss”, who lives in the Brittany region of northwestern France, spends her days creating whimsical animal figurines and has a special fondness for hippos. Jen started potting in 1979 after spending her childhood making animals in modelling clay and specializes in hand-modeled animals. Below are some photos of Jen and her work:

Jen the Hippopottermiss

Jen the Hippopottermiss

Today, Jen’s work won the “Daily Deviation” award on DeviantArt.com. Each day the DeviantArt gallery moderators, who are artists themselves, sift through thousands of submissions to choose works that they think are worth featuring. This is the second time one of Jen’s sculptures has been featured but the first time for a hippo. See the picture, below. Congrats, Jen!

Mummy's Little Bundle

Mummy's Little Bundle

Jen does not sell wholesale so Hippo Mojo won’t be carrying any of her work but you can see and purchase Jen’s hippos here.

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