Mammals
Pygmy Hippo
Choeropsis liberiensis · also called pygmy hippopotamus, dwarf hippopotamus
The pygmy hippo is what a hippopotamus looks like when it moves into the forest. It is about a tenth the weight of its famous relative, it comes out only at night, and it spends most of its life on land — a shy, little-known animal that most people had never heard of until a viral zoo calf changed that in 2024.
Overview
Choeropsis liberiensis lives in the rainforest and swamp forest of West Africa, mostly in Liberia. It stands 75–100 cm at the shoulder and weighs 180–275 kg. Compared with the common hippo it has a rounder head with side-set eyes, longer legs and neck, and less webbed feet — the build of an animal that walks rather than wades.
A forest life
By day it rests in swamps, wallows, or riverbank dens, often using burrows dug by other animals. At dusk it follows regular trails into the forest to feed on ferns, leaves, fallen fruit, and roots. It does not graze grass or feed in the water as the common hippo does. Its skin secretes a pinkish “blood sweat” that acts as sunscreen and antiseptic.
Solitary and shy
Adults live alone or as a mother with a calf, and they are far less aggressive than common hippos. A single calf is born after 6–7 months and is left hidden in cover while the mother returns to nurse.
Status
The pygmy hippo is Endangered and declining, with roughly 2,000–2,500 left, threatened by deforestation for logging, farming, and mining, and by bushmeat hunting. The Thai calf Moo Deng brought the species rare global attention in 2024.
Pygmy Hippo: common questions
How is a pygmy hippo different from a baby hippo?
A pygmy hippo is a separate species and an adult, not a young common hippo. Beyond the obvious size difference, the body is built differently. The pygmy hippo's eyes and nostrils sit on the sides of a rounder head rather than on top, because it does not spend its life submerged. Its legs and neck are longer in proportion, its feet are less webbed with more spread toes for walking on soft forest ground, and it has one pair of lower incisors instead of two. A baby common hippo, by contrast, already has the flat-topped head with raised eyes and stays close to its mother in the water from birth.
Why is the pygmy hippo endangered?
Habitat loss is the main reason. The lowland rainforest of West Africa is being cleared for logging, farming, and mining, including for rubber and oil palm, and what remains is increasingly broken into isolated patches that cannot each hold a viable population. On top of that the animals are hunted for bushmeat, and civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone displaced people into forest areas and weakened protection for years. Because the total wild population is only around 2,000 to 2,500 and spread across four countries, it has little buffer against these pressures.
Is the pygmy hippo dangerous?
Far less so than the common hippo, which is one of Africa's most dangerous large animals. The pygmy hippo is shy, solitary, and nocturnal, and its instinct when disturbed is to flee into water or dense cover rather than to confront. It is a powerful animal with large teeth and could injure a person if cornered or if a mother felt her calf was threatened, so it should not be approached, but there is no pattern of pygmy hippos attacking people or boats the way common hippos do.
What is Moo Deng?
Moo Deng is a female pygmy hippo born in July 2024 at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand. Photos and videos of her went viral later that year, and she became an internet phenomenon, with huge visitor numbers, merchandise, and news coverage worldwide. The attention was a boost for a species most people had never heard of, and conservation groups used the moment to highlight how few pygmy hippos remain in the wild and the threats their forest home faces.