Tadpole

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Tadpole on July 12, 2008 by Ken Kennedy

Tadpole (born October 22, 1978 in Houston, Texas; died June 19, 2020 in Birmingham) was a male Nile hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) which was exhibited at the Birmingham Zoo for more than 40 years.

Tadpole was born in 1978 at the Houston Zoo to Uebi and Durka, both of whom had been taken from the wild in the late 1950s. On June 16, 1979 he was brought to Birmingham to take the place of the zoo's former hippopotamus Simsooty, who had died in February 1978.

Beginning in 1984 Tadpole and his companion Mama Petite sired several children, all of which were transferred to other zoos. His interior and exterior exhibit space in the zoo's Pachyderm Building was renovated during construction of the Trails of Africa exhibit, which opened in 2011.

Tadpole was euthanized due to health complications affecting his liver and bladder function. His former exhibit was re-used for the eastern black rhinoceroses Moyo and Kesi.

References

  • Robinson, Carol (March 8, 2007) "Mama Petite, a hippo at zoo since 1959, is dead." The Birmingham News
  • Taylor, Drew (June 22, 2020) "Tadpole, one of the Birmingham Zoo’s oldest land animals, dies at 41." CBS42.com

External links