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Pygmy hippos can spend up to six hours a day ... | |  | Glove puppet helps pygmy hippo start eating Nature and Environment 
11-17-2008, 02:23 PM
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Rusty
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A pygmy hippo who had been put off eating has been lured back to the trough by a glove puppet
Pygmy hippos can spend up to six hours a day eating in the wild
Photo: AP
Chico caused keepers at his home in Heythrop Zoological Gardens concern when he began to refuse food.
But the animal was lured back to his trough under the watchful eye of Gloria, a glove puppet based on the star character in DreamWorks children's film Madagascar.
Zoo keepers at the private zoo near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire said they had been "trying everything" to tempt the fussy eater back to his meals when they stumbled across the hippo glove puppet in a supermarket promotion.
Now keepers don the glove puppet to hand feed the diminutive hippo, a relative of the larger hippopotamus on whom Gloria is based, his favourite carrot treats.
Despite his portly appearance, Chico had stopped feeding and was in danger of losing weight.
In the wild, pygmy hippos can spend up to six hours a day eating, and need to consume one-and-a-half percent of their body weight every day to stay healthy.
Head keeper, Michael Howes, was desperate to find a way to encourage the animal start eating, when he saw Gloria the Hippo being given away with washing detergent during a shopping trip.
As a last resort he decided to use the toy to try to lure Chico to tuck back in.
"We had been trying everything as Chico was refusing to feed and when I saw the Madagascar hippo puppet in the supermarket I thought I'd give it a try," Mr Howes said.
"We were extremely surprised when he took a liking to Gloria and we have been using it to feed him ever since."
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11-17-2008, 04:26 PM
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Tracy
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I love hippos. My faves are the surfing hippos....
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11-17-2008, 07:20 PM
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Decent
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I saw the headline and before I even looked at who posted it, I thought "Yep, it's Rusty", lol
Hey! Rusty needs a forum! "Rustys Odds and Ends"!
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Ya know, people are usually so blase' about winning one, but not me, Oh my GOD, I'd KILL to win a Nobel Peace Prize! | | The Following User Says Thank You to Decent For This Useful Post: | |
11-17-2008, 09:10 PM
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BillW
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Originally Posted by Tracy  I love hippos. My faves are the surfing hippos.... | I saw a short piece on th TV last week channel surfing and more people are killed by Hippos each year than any other animal. They are large, fast, and very terrirorial, I guess. | | The Following User Says Thank You to BillW For This Useful Post: | |
11-17-2008, 09:45 PM
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Decent
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Originally Posted by BillW more people are killed by Hippos each year than any other animal. | Hippos? More people are killed by HIPPOS than ANY other animal?? More people are killed by hippos than by dogs, or horses, or even bears? Hippos? What country was this based on?? Hippos?? You're pulling our leg... More than elk or even wildcats? HIPPOS kill more people than ANY other animal?? I'm having a hard time with this.
Hippos?
Really?
Hippos??
 |
11-17-2008, 10:19 PM
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Tracy
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I've heard that before too Decent |
11-18-2008, 07:46 AM
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Decent
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It's just weird though. I mean, it's not like you see them walking down the street. You don't see headlines in the news like 'Hunters Trying To Thin Out The Overabundance Of Hippos', or "Feral Hippos A Growing Problem", with an excerpt from some woman saying 'Damn hippos were in my yard again, eatin the flowers. I worry about the kids!".
Sorry, not calling anyone a liar, lol, it's just one of those things you hear where you're like 'wtf, No way!'. |
11-18-2008, 07:51 AM
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BillW
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Originally Posted by Decent HIPPOS kill more people than ANY other animal?? I'm having a hard time with this.
| 
That's what I hear, rather surprising to me also. I have not tried to verify this. I think I caught the tail end of something on Animal planet. Since we don't have those things here it's just not something we see or hear about. I doubt if he pigmey ones that this thread is about contribute to the carnage though. |
11-18-2008, 08:01 AM
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Decent
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Originally Posted by BillW
That's what I hear, rather surprising to me also. I have not tried to verify this. I think I caught the tail end of something on Animal planet. Since we don't have those things here it's just not something we see or hear about. I doubt if he pigmey ones that this thread is about contribute to the carnage though. | lol Carnage. Hippo carnage. rotflmao, why is that so funny??  | | The Following User Says Thank You to Decent For This Useful Post: | |
11-18-2008, 08:06 AM
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