Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-06-09
Gncinnati's Baby Hippopotamus.

The people of the Zoo all smiled yes.
!erday IN spite of the rain and surround.
ing gloom. From the ticket office to the
o., ne,ar,plt smiles We're lying around loose,
Inc hyena actually laughed. and the
strutted around with name and
tail erect as though defying the rain t.,
wash out his stripes. The cause of ali
thls hllarity was the arrival by special
tram at an early hour yesterday morn
ing OF that infantile geological wonder,
the baby hippopotamus. A reporter
was OF course dispatched to the Gardens
bty, the rise of the sun, and after a care
full inspection of the sucking became
convinced that if infants were ever to
be considered Is dispensers of happi-
ness this one might throw it out in
chunks large enough to satisfy the deni-
zens OF several Zoos, even though they
were far more numerous and eXacting
than those of our Cincinnati establish
ment. This babe is indeed a prodigy,
even for a hippopotamus, for though
only eighteen months OF age he stands
thirty inches high, is five and a half
feet long and kicks the beam at 600
pounds. When the reporter first
caught sight Of him he was %slumbcring
peacefully at the bottom of a large ce-
mented tank, or rather c~istcrn,~ recently
constructed at one end of the carnivora.
The sight aforesaid was not a very COM
%prehensive one, however, for only the
tip OF a nose, a pair Of bullying eyes and
two rather small ears were to be seen
floating on the surface of the water.
Like the blind man, who, in his first
encounter with an elephant; grabbed
that animal by the tail, the scribe had
about made up his mind that a hippopot-
anus amphibious was a pretty thin ar
rangement, when the little darling, roll
ing lazily v e on his side, opened it's
mouth to its full extent, creating the
impression that the bottom had dropped
out of the tank. Gagged by this facial
oriiice a baby hippopotamus is not to
be sneezed at, and Prof. Thompson's
pet opening his toothless gums might
swallow a flour barrel and think moth
ing Of it. This animal was captured
about a year ago by a band of Arabs, in
the Atbar River, one of the Ahyssinian
branches of the Nile. and brought to the
town.of Cassala, on the Nubian frontier,
where it was purchased and sent to AL
feldt, Germany. MI. Thompson, the
Superintendent Of the Zoo, while in
New York, a month or so back, pur-
chased the infant, paying for it $4,000.
A cablegram was Immediately sent to
Alfeldt, and last Thursday the animal
was landed in New York. MI. Thomp-
son had been awaiting its arrival, and
Friday evening started with it for home,
not even staying to change it from the
shipping cage. Though amphibious by
many directly to the Zoo in a rough
wooden box, with just sufficient water
now and then thrust into the cage to
wet the tip of his nose. A beautiful and
commodious tank had, however, been
prepared for it at the Garden, and after
a wallow or two in the liquid mud Of
the Ohio the little big fellow became as
playful as q kitten and smiled those pc
culiar whole face hippopotamic smiles
on all around him as though more than
satisfied with his new found quarters
His breakfast Of bran and oats wa.
gulped with an apparent relish, and the
Professor believes that he now has tht
finest and healthiest specimen of thu
kind ever brought to this country
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.