BANGKOK, Oct 25 — Thai zoos are seeing a surge in newborn pygmy hippopotamuses all of a sudden, but you won’t hear anyone complaining, especially with how endangered the species is in the wild.
Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Park Zoo in the northeast of Thailand saw the birth of a hippo calf born on October 13 and is celebrating the event with a naming contest open to the public.
While you aren’t exactly free to name the newborn – a female, according to a report in The Bangkok Post today – you get to choose one of the five options prepared by the zoo. They are:
- Lam Duan (ลำดวน) — meaning white cheesewood, the provincial flower of Sisaket province, where she was born.
- Si Ket (ศรีเกษ) — a combination of her father’s name ‘Som Si’ and her mother’s name ‘Ket Sa Rin’.
- Sao Si (สาวศรี) — meaning a beautiful girl of Sisaket.
- Hom Dang (หอมแดง) — meaning red onion, a cash crop of Sisaket.
- Moo Kratiem (หมูกระเทียม) — a stir-fried pork and garlic dish, another cash crop of Sisaket.
The vote is online through Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Park Zoo’s Facebook page from October 28 and ends on October 31.
A limited baby hippo T-shirt awaits the first 50 participants, according to The Bangkok Post.
And those who vote for the first three winning names will receive a big prize from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
The world became enamoured with baby pygmy hippos, which are native to west Africa, after the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in the eastern Thai province of Chon Buri held a naming contest for its latest addition following her birth on July 10.
Moo Deng (หมูเด้ง), which means bouncy pork, won out from a selection of three names by over 20,000 votes.
The three-month old now has her own 24-hour livestream channel on YouTube.
