In the News...
May 2007

• Home
• Objectives
• Hippos in the News...
• Conservation
• Current Research
• Common Hippo Map
• Pygmy Hippo Map
• Population Trends
• Info Packets
• Bibliography
• Contact Us
  
• How to Help
  

This month's stories:

• Hippos Killed in Mozambique
• Louisville Zoo Pygmy Hippo Calf Gets Named
• Hippos to be Used to Predict Earthquakes

Hippos Killed in Mozambique

Once again, unfortunate interactions between humans and wildlife is making the news and the wildlife is losing ground.  In Mozambique at least 17 animals that were determined to pose a threat to human life, mostly lions, but also crocodiles, elephants and hippopotamus, were killed in Maputo province from 2006 up to the first quarter of this year.  The Maputo provincial governor Telmina Pereira gave this information to Mozambican President Armando Guebuza in Boane district, on the second day of the President's tour of the province. 

The Maputo Elephant Reserve is in Matutuine district, and Magude and Moamba border on South Africa's Kruger National Park.  It is thus hardly surprising that wild animals sometimes come into fatal contact with people in these areas.  Ms. Pereira stated that hunting guns have been distributed to some of the districts, to be used to safeguard human lives in the event of danger.

Eighteen awareness campaigns were conducted among local communities in Magude and Moamba about this problem.

Sources: AllAfrica.com 15 May 2007
04/06/07

Louisville Zoo Pygmy Hippo Calf Gets Named

Five-year-old Aspen Hofmans has won the competition at the Louisville Zoo to name their new pygmy hippos.  The name she chose: Isoke (pronounced ee-SO-keh) which is the Swahili word for “Satisfying Gift.”  

Ms. Hofmans and her family received prizes including a zoo membership and a behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo for winning the contest.

Keepers narrowed the more than 2,000 entries in the Norton Healthcare naming contest down to three, with the winning name receiving the most "votes" in the form of coins inserted into slots at a zoo kiosk. The contest raised about $575, which will go to care for the zoo animals.

Little Isoke "is thriving. She is brave and adventurous, even swimming by herself, without her mom, Tracy, by her side. But she can still be found following in her mother's footsteps quite often," said zoo spokeswoman Kara Bussabarger.

Sources: Kentucky.com and The Courier Journal (online) 16 May 2007
04/06/07

Hippos to be Used to Predict EarthQuakes

Note: This is taken from a legitimate news report. The IUCN Hippo Specialist Group knows of no corroborating data related to hippos and has no idea as to the identities of the reported “experts.” 

The natural behaviour of animals is being used to help predict earthquakes in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province. "We have found many animals behave oddly before an earthquake," said experts with the seismology office of the Guangzhou government. 

"Hibernating animals for example will wake up and flee from their caves, while the aquatic ones will leap from the water's surface.  We hope that by monitoring this behavior we can better forecast impending earthquakes and help save lives," the experts said. 

According to Chen Honghan, vice-director of the Guangzhou Zoo, hippos will head for land, and in the case of a tsunami, they will keep diving into deep water to protect themselves from the huge waves. 

Guangdong Province is prone to earthquakes. "We cannot rule out the possibility that a big earthquake will occur in Guangdong," said Liang Gan, vice-director of the Guangdong seismology bureau. "To the province's south lies a Southeast Asian seismic fault that has caused earthquakes of level 7 and above near the Taiwan Strait and cites such as Yangjiang and Heyuan.  We will further step up efforts in the monitoring of earthquakes, but more should also be done to let people know how to protect themselves when an earthquake strikes," Liang said

Source: China Daily (online)  22 May 2007
04/06/07