Philadelphia Zoo Throws Birthday Celebration For Hippo

By John McDevitt

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Zoo threw a birthday party for one of its massive mammals.

Zoo visitors sang Happy Birthday to Unna the hippopotamus. She turned 26 years old.

She led the way to her pool party with her roommate Cindy in tow.

Hippo keeper Betsy Karkowski tossing treats. (Credit: John McDevitt)

Hippo keeper Betsy Karkowski tossed treats of oversized zucchini and lettuce into the water and that was just a snack for the hungry, hungry hippos.

"Even though they spend most of their day in the water they don't really eat many aquatic plants, they'll come up on land and eat the grass," said Karkowski. "So here at the zoo we feed them Timothy hay, which is a type of grass type of hay, and a certain amount of produce zucchini and lettuce, those both qualify, and they each get a pound of grain."

Six-year-old Chloe Caraffa was at the celebration.
McDevitt: Whose birthday is it?
Chloe: Unna's
McDevitt: How old is she?
Chloe: 26.
McDevitt: Is that young or old in hippo years?
Chloe: Old!

 

The birthday celebration continues over the weekend where each day at 2 p.m. you can see the hippos, monkey around, with floating melons

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