Poppy, the baby pygmy hippo, born to Iris and Corwin on December 9, 2024, from Virginia, stole the spotlight from Thailand's Moo Deng. Poppy is the third calf of Iris and Corwin in four years.
Compared with Africa's other big animals, hippos have been relatively neglected in scientific research. Partly, this is because they're hard to study and dangerous to encounter.