Baby Hippo Monifa takes her first swim at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo

Monifa, a baby pygmy hippopotamus at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo in Australia, took her first swim in 2008 while proud zoo keepers looked on. From wikipedia: 

The pygmy hippo is herbivorous, feeding on ferns, broad-leaved plants, grasses and fruits it finds in the forests.

A rare nocturnal forest creature, the pygmy hippopotamus is a difficult animal to study in the wild. Pygmy hippos were unknown outside of West Africa until the 19th century. Introduced to zoos in the early 20th century, they breed well in captivity and the vast majority of research is derived from zoo specimens. The survival of the species in captivity is more assured than in the wild, the World Conservation Union estimates that there are fewer than 3,000 pygmy hippos remaining in the wild. Pygmy hippos are primarily threatened by loss of habitat, as forests are logged and converted to farm land, and are also vulnerable to poaching, hunting, natural predators and war.

Sapo is male pygmy hippo at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo in the UK. Born in 2011, Sapo is also ridiculously cute and is an important addition to the captive population: