By Ayesha
Rascoe
NYT Institute
A green mark can be seen along the walls
of the hippopotamus exhibit at the Audubon
Zoo where water used to be. The once vibrant
display is now empty and barren. No swimming
will go on in the once full pool, and no
hippo calls will be heard in the evening,
because Tony the hippo is dead.
Tony, the only hippo at Audubon, died Tuesday
from causes still unknown and is now remembered
by those who knew him both as an attraction
and a companion.
“Even though hippos in the wild have
a reputation for being aggressive, Tony
was very gentle and really kind of shy around
new people,” said Earl Johnson, who
was one of Tony’s primary keepers
for about 10 years.
Johnson recalled some of his fond memories
of the 44-year-old animal, including celebrating
Tony’s birthday on Halloween by giving
him apples and bananas. He also remembered
the melodic noises Tony would make as the
sun went down.
“Usually starting late spring and
summer, just around late evening, you could
hear him calling with a deep baritone voice,”
Johnson said. “It was really impressive.”
According to Dan Maloney, the Audubon’s
general curator, Tony was born at the Jackson
Zoo in Jackson, Miss., around 1961. He moved
to Audubon on Halloween in 1964 and remained
there entertaining generations of zoo visitors.
Wendy Walls, a New Orleans resident, was
passing by Tony’s former home at Audubon
with her daughter when she heard about the
death of the 4,000-pound mammal.
“The kids always loved to see him,”
Walls said. When we look at "the empty
little exhibit, it’s kind of sad.”
Johnson was the first animal herder to discover
Tony’s death. Though he was not shocked,
he was distressed by the loss.
"After you work with an animal so long
and lose him, you get kind of upset.”
While many people are saddened by his death,
Tony had a lifespan that was average for
hippos who tend to live to be about 45.
Other aspects of Tony’s life were
less typical. In the wild, hippos usually
live in 15-member herds, but for the past
16 years of Tony’s life, he lived
alone. His mate Rosebud died in 1981 of
an intestinal infection shortly after giving
birth. The baby hippo, Duffy, died soon
after her mother.
Maloney said officials at Audubon were reluctant
to bring in any more hippos to live with
Tony because of limited space. Lack of space
and money also leave the future of hippos
at Audubon uncertain. No new hippos will
replace Tony anytime soon, Maloney said.
“We’re still trying to figure
out how we’ll accommodate hippos,”
he said.
As the zoo grapples with maintaining large
mammals, the last hippo to reside at Audubon
has not been forgotten. His remains were
sent to Louisiana State University for a
necropsy, or animal autopsy. Johnson predicts
the cause of death to be complications from
old age. He also believes the veterinary
students at the university will benefit
from working on an exotic animal. After
the procedure is completed, Tony’s
body will be cremated.
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