Europe’s oldest hippo gives birth to her 15th calf at age 55

At almost 55, Camilla has become Europe’s oldest hippopotamus to give birth. The mother delivered her 15th calf at Natura Viva Park in Bussolengo, near Verona, after an eight-month pregnancy.

The calf was 10 days old when the account was published. It spent much of its time nursing underwater and taking tentative steps outside the pond to follow its mother. Camilla weighs about 2,500 kilograms, while the calf weighs about 50.

No one may approach the newborn, in or out of the water, for the next several weeks. Camilla remained in the pond during the calf’s first three days and began leaving to feed only after it could follow her. When the calf tires, she stays still and offers her muzzle as support so it can float more easily.

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Camilla arrived at Natura Viva Park in 1976, just three years after the opening of the first safari.

Camillo Sandri, the park’s zoological director, said Camilla arrived in 1976, three years after the first safari opened, and had already raised 14 young. He said her reproduction at an age beyond the species’ life expectancy had been unexpected.

The calf is the only one born in Italy in the past five years. Hippos remain vulnerable to extinction, with populations in 39 African countries under pressure from shrinking and fragmented freshwater habitats, pollution, extractive activities and hunting for their large teeth. Cites recorded international trade in parts and derivatives linked to about 13,900 hippos between 2009 and 2018.

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At this age, already beyond a hippopotamus’s life expectancy, no one would have thought she was still capable of reproducing.