Moo Deng, who? There’s a new face at the Houston Zoo. A four-and-a-half-year-old, 477-pound male pygmy hippopotamus, moved to Houston from San Francisco as part of a breeding recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquarium (AZA) Species Survival Plan® (SSP) Program. His name is Akobi, meaning “first born” in Yoruba. Guests can see Akobi next to the bongos as he gets acquainted in his new home.
People might be more familiar with the species after the viral attention of Moo Deng—a pygmy hippo at a Thailand zoo—became an international sensation after his birth this summer.