Cincinnati Zoo's Baby Hippo Swims with Divers

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s baby hippopotamus is preparing to make her outdoor entrance.The zoo released video on Thursday, May 11, showing Fiona swimming with divers in the indoor pool, which has been completely filled. The zoo’s staff had been slowly raising the pool’s water level to help Fiona learn how to navigate the deeper pool.The new video shows divers in the pool with Fiona as she dives through the pool and pushes herself to the surface. The zoo said divers may go into the outdoor pool with Fiona, so the staff is acquainting her with the experience. The video shows her slowly adapting to the divers’ presence in the pool.“Fiona’s care team is trying to introduce new sights and sounds that she might encounter outside so her first experience will be positive and fun,” the zoo said.Fiona was born six weeks early in January at just 29 pounds, well below the normal 55-110 pound birth weight for hippos. Her weight now tops 200 pounds. She’s been under the care of the zoo’s staff, away from her parents, since her birth, and the care team is preparing her for spending time outside, a reunion with her parents and meeting zoo visitors.The video at the download link is a shorter version of this video without the captions. We have provided a raw version of this video with its captions below.