pygmy hippo calf

Like any good pygmy hippo, 10-week-old Georgina loves a relaxing swim. This adorable calf is the second born to parents Flora and Tapon, rounding out the family with brother Sappo, who was born 18 months earlier. From the looks of things, Georgina is taking her role as baby of the family quite seriously!

Gorgeous little Georgina likes to stick close to her mama, floating around the zoo’s heated indoor pool. The buoyant beauty seems to love blowing bubbles in the water, much to the delight of the staff at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo.

A native species of West Africa, pygmy hippos are critically endangered, with their numbers in the wild estimated to be below 3,000. Georgina’s arrival is great news all-around, not only because it ups the zoo’s cuteness quotient by about 1,000 percent but it's a boon to the zoo’s EDGE of Existence programme, which focuses on the conservation of unique species like the pygmy hippo.