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Bert the hippo: Entertainer, dad, nap-taker

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Contributed by: Brendan Leonard/YourHub.com on 4/9/2008

Editor's note: Visit our Faces of Denver page, where YourHub.com staff and readers will introduce you to more people who make this part of the metro area what it is.

For about the first 20 minutes after the Denver Zoo opens April 9, Bert just hangs out underwater in his pool, only his snout sticking out of the green water.

He can take it easy. He's on a dose of Cosequin for his arthritis now. He weighs about 5,000 pounds. At 51 years old, Bert is one of the oldest recorded hippopotamuses living in captivity, zoo officials say.

"He's a great father," says zoo spokesperson Amy Sarno. "He's been around calves his whole life."

Bert arrived at the Denver Zoo in December 1958, shortly after his second birthday. He was a gift to the zoo from Arthur E. and Helen Johnson, who purchased him from the Central Park Zoo in New York. He's been here longer than anyone, including the staff. He's fathered 29 children with two mates. His only company now in the hippo enclosure is his 3-year-old son, Mahali, who playfully nudges him several times. Bert's daughter, Hazina, died of an apparent heart failure from sitting on her legs too long while being shipped to the Calgary Zoo in October 2007.

Bert and Mahali are a hit with many of the schoolchildren visiting the zoo today, drawing remarks like "Do they eat humans?" and "They have a mouth like a bucket" from some of the kids and a series of loud growls from one 4-year-old girl. At one point, a group of five 4-year-old girls hangs on the fence and Bert relieves himself.

"Eeeeeew!" the girls shriek in chorus.

"Is that a girl or a boy?" one asks.

"It's a boy!" another girl answers.

"I hope he pees in the water!" another girl says.

"Pee again, hippopotamus!" another girl squeals.

Bert is unfazed.

The hippos do not, as a matter of fact, eat humans. Bert and Mahali eat mostly alfalfa, fruits and vegetables, grain and vitamin supplements. Sarno says Bert's favorite food is apples.

A typical day for Bert involves some swimming, some moseying around the hippo enclosure, lots of munching alfalfa, and lots of sleep. Hippos are nocturnal animals in the wild, doing most of their grazing and foraging at night, and thus do a lot of sleeping during the day.

Zookeepers change the hippos' water about twice a week, Sarno says. But as soon as the pool is filled with clean water, the hippos do their best to mess it up again.

"They like it dirty," she says.

At about 11:30 a.m., Bert lies down, bending his front legs first, then his back legs. Mahali settles in and lies next to his dad in an almost mirror image. It's their second nap since the zoo opened an hour and a half ago.

For more information, go to denverzoo.org.

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Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

Submitted By: Erin Feese

posted on 4/23/2008 @ 10:54:24 AM

Rated Story

Wow, I didn't know hippos lived to be 50! I suppose the frequent naps cut down on stress levels. Great story.

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Submitted By: Charmaine Robledo

posted on 4/11/2008 @ 10:10:22 AM

Rated Story

I love photo No. 5. So cute and squishy.

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