Our Latest showcase...her name is Lola
Over 14,000 votes were received in the public ballot to name our newest arrival, a pygmy hippopotamus, and the winning name is…Lola. The name was extremely popular and received 7838 votes - a whopping 53%.
Lola’s keepers short listed four names - Lola, Kadina, Loko and Zimmi - after places in the pygmy hippo native home in west Africa for people to choose from. Lola is a town in the forest region of Guinea. Located near Mount Nimba, the highest peak in the country, the town is also well known for cloth manufacture and traditional medicine.
Lola was born four weeks ago (13 November 08) as part of a conservation breeding programme to help save the species from extinction. Lola lives with her big sister, Sirana and Mum Wendy and Dad Antone in our pygmy hippo house. Claire Holmes, one of the keepers which looks after the pygmy hippos and helped choose the names said: “I’m thrilled that so many people voted for Lola as it’s my favourite. It must have been a sign when Barry Manilow sang Copacabana with its opening line ‘Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl’ on Strictly Come Dancing last Sunday.”
With less than 3000 in the wild, Lola is a vital addition to this rare and endangered species. Ongoing deforestation in their natural habitat, combined with civil unrest, presents significant threats to the population. Their numbers have steadily declined and the species is now listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is estimated that the population is likely to continue to decline by 20% over the course of the next 20 years.
Pygmy hippos are elusive animals living in the swamps of western Africa. Pygmy hippos, and their larger cousins, the common hippopotamus, play an important part in maintaining the ecosystems of the African wetlands and the surrounding grasslands and forests.
The total number of votes received was 14,704 and their breakdown is:
Lola received 7838 votes. Lola is a town in the forest region of Guinea. Located near Mount Nimba, the highest peak in the country, the town is also well known for cloth manufacture and traditional medicine.
Zimmi received 3337 votes. Zimmi is a town located in southern Sierra Leone.
Loko received 1893 votes. Port Loko is the capitol and largest city of Port Loko District , in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Port Loko lies on Port Loko Creek, which flows into the Sierra Leone river.
Kadina received 1636 votes. Kadina is a city in eastern Sierra Leone.
Lola was born on the 13 November 08. She is the third female in a row to be born at Marwell. Sirana was born on 11 May 2006 and Taiama was born in 2003. Her parents are mum Wendy (born 1995 at Antwerp Zoo) dad Antone (born 2000 at Paris Zoo).
The vote was conducted on Marwell’s website, from Friday 5th through to Friday 12th December 2008.
Photo kindly supplied by Solent News Agency
12 December 2008