A female pygmy hippopotamus arrived on Wednesday at a zoo in northern Israel as part of an international breeding and conservation program to save the species, which is endangered in the wild.

Unlike its much larger, more numerous cousin, the Common Hippopotamus, which lives mainly in East Africa, the shy, nocturnal, pygmy species lives in swampy West African forests. Fewer than 2,500 are thought to still live in the wild, where they face shrinking habitats due to mining, logging, agriculture, and poaching.

The pygmy hippo that arrived at the Hai Park in northern Israel’s Kiryat Motzkin comes from Prague Zoo in the Czech Republic. It was flown to Israel via Frankfurt Airport.

Plans are for a male to arrive from Sweden later this year to kick off the first breeding nucleus in Israel.

While the zoo did not give........

© The Times of Israel