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Baby Hippo Has Become an Educational Force
Imagine having an animal as your teacher. How much do you think one could learn from a hippopotamus1, for example?
At the Cincinnati Zoo, a baby hippo named Fiona is helping2 to educate young people, both in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio and across the United States.
Fiona was born at the Cincinnati Zoo in January 2017. She arrived nearly two months early, before her body was strong. That meant her body was smaller than that of other baby hippos. Her birth weight was so low that Fiona’s caregivers feared she might not survive.
But thanks to special treatments and assistance3 from hospital workers, Fiona stayed healthy. Her story gained national attention because of stories on traditional and social media.
The young hippo is now a symbol for the Cincinnati Zoo. The zoo has used her name and image to sell a great deal of merchandise4, including clothing and toys. She is also the star of at least six books and she is a very popular subject for library and classroom activities.
The latest book is called “Saving Fiona,” which the zoo’s director wrote.
“She has taught us a lot,” director Thane Maynard told the Associated Press.
Some experts believe Fiona is the smallest hippo ever to survive. She weighed only 13 kilograms at birth. That is one-third the size of a normal, fully5 developed baby Nile hippopotamus. She was also unable to stand or take milk from her mother.
A Cincinnati Zoo worker collected milk from Fiona’s mother Bibi by hand. And the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo in Washington, DC helped develop a highly-nutritional food product for her. Workers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital were asked to help inject nutrients6 directly into her bloodstream.
Maynard notes that everyone was worried about Fiona during the first six months of her life. But by her first birthday, she had grown to 318 kilograms, a healthy weight for a hippopotamus that age.
Maynard’s book is aimed at young readers, telling them the story of Fiona’s struggle to survive, while also teaching7 them about hippos. It includes many facts about the animals, such as the fact that adult hippos only eat plants, but can run faster than people. The book also notes adult hippos can be dangerous because of their size – weighing up to 2,270 kilograms.
“Part of the zoo’s mission8 is public education,” Maynard said. “(The book) is reaching kids and families with a message of hope...never giving up.”
To date, all the books about Fiona, when combined, have sold tens of thousands of copies.
Educators say lessons with stories involving animals appeal to students. Fiona has been on the cover of three Scholastic9 News magazines. Those magazines have reached millions of students. And the stories about Fiona came with reading exercises or mathematics problems, such as finding10 how many bathtubs the water in her zoo would fill.
Stephanie Smith is executive11 director for Scholastic News for students in grades three through six. She says youngsters12 love Fiona’s story.
“Kids will just gobble it up. It makes teaching easy,” she said.
However, Mike Shriberg sees a problem with all the attention Fiona has been receiving. Shriberg is with the National Wildlife Federation13, a private non-profit group. He says environmental activists15 see all the stories about media stars like Fiona as an avoidance of the serious difficulties hippos and other animals face. These including shrinking16 wildlife habitats and illegal hunting.
Shriberg argues there is a deeper message about the environment that educators should be sharing. But he admits that, growing up as a child in Cincinnati, he visited the zoo often. He says this helped influence him to become an environmental activist14.
Shriberg says the attention on Fiona — which has seen her image placed on items from playing cards to alcoholic17 drinks — is a good thing overall18.
“We are…in favor of anything that is engaging people with wildlife, he said. “You’ve got the American public and people around the world really caring about hippos and animals.”
I’m Pete Musto.
Words in This Story
symbol – n. an action, object, or event that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality
merchandise – n. goods that are bought and sold
library – n. a place where books, magazines, and other materials, such as videos and musical recordings19, are available for people to use or borrow
bloodstream – n. the flow of blood that moves through the heart and body
mission – n. a task that you consider to be a very important duty
lesson(s) – n. an activity that you do in order to learn something
bathtub(s) – n. a large and long container in which people clean themselves with soap and water
grade(s) – n. a level of study that is completed by a student during one year
gobble – v. to take something quickly or suddenly
habitat(s) – n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows
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hippopotamus
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| n.河马 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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assistance
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| n.援助，帮助 | |
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merchandise
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| n.商品，货物；v.经营，推销，销售，经商 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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nutrients
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| n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 ) | |
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teaching
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| n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲 | |
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mission
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| n.使命，任务，天职；代表团，使团 | |
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scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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finding
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| n.发现，发现物；调查的结果 | |
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executive
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| adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理 | |
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youngsters
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| n.孩子( youngster的名词复数 )；少年；青年；年轻人 | |
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federation
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| n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会 | |
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activist
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| n.活动分子，积极分子 | |
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activists
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| n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
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shrinking
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| a.畏缩的，犹豫不决的 | |
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alcoholic
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| adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者 | |
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overall
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| n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的 | |
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recordings
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| n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片 | |
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