Meet Mars, Pygmy Hippo Influencer

Written by Paige Feikert

Meet Mars, Pygmy Hippo Influencer

Written by Paige Feikert

This month marks one year since the birth of baby pygmy hippo, Mars, at Tanganyika Wildlife Park. Ever since, he’s been filling social media feeds with adorable antics and has generated a following of hundreds of thousands of people from across the world.

“The most rewarding part [about caring for Mars] is watching guests realize how much personality each of the animals we care for has, and seeing the connection this little hippo has made with people around the world,” said Robert Olmstead via e-mail. Olmstead is supervisor of BRAVO and Hoofstock, two teams of Tanganyika zookeepers.

Mars first went viral on social media when he was about six weeks old. That’s when Tanganyika posted a video of one of the zookeepers attempting to encourage Mars to get out of the pool. In the video, Mars wriggled and slipped out of the keeper’s hands, finding his way back into the cool water. Eventually, his mother, Posie, shot Mars a stern look, and the six-week old hippo made his way out of the water. The video received millions of views and earned the park hundreds of thousands of new followers on social media. It was one of the first opportunities for people around the world to see Mars’s personality.

“Mars is calm and easygoing most of the time, though he gets the zoomies and shows a bit of attitude every once in a while,” Olmstead said.

Tanganyika is planning a full weekend of celebrations for Mars’s first birthday on June 26.

A Day in the Life of Mars

Pygmy hippos are herbivores, and Tanganyika’s diet for Mars reflects that of a wild pygmy hippo, including hay and specially formulated pellets, plus carrots and sweet potatoes during training sessions. In total, Mars eats about five pounds of food per day. Pygmy hippos are typically much smaller than Nile hippos, weighing up to 400 to 600 pounds in adulthood and measuring about three feet in height and about five feet in length.

One thing most social media users have discovered about Mars over the last year: He loves to spend time in the pool.

“The most difficult part [of caring for Mars] is cleaning the pools so often — hippos are very messy swimmers,” Olmstead said. “The simplest part is educating the public about pygmy hippos. Mars’s popularity makes it easy to get people engaged in bigger conversations about the species.”

While his photos and videos bring smiles to the faces of those who see them, Tanganyika’s mission is not only to share the joy of watching Mars grow up, but also to educate people about pygmy hippos and help preserve and protect the species.

“So many people don’t even know pygmy hippos exist, and you have to know something exists before you can want to help it — I also hope that the cuteness draws people in to learn more about the habitat and other animals native to the same regions,” Olmstead said. “We’re so thankful that Mars has helped Tanganyika reach so many new followers and guests, giving us more opportunities to connect people to the natural world.”

“Mars’s popularity makes it easy to get people engaged in bigger conversations about the species.” — Robert Olmstead, Tanganyika supervisor

The birth of Mars and four other pygmy hippos at Tanganyika is part of the park’s wider conservation efforts. Mars’s parents — Posie and Pluto — have successfully welcomed a total of five calves since arriving at the park in 2014 through one of the most successful pygmy hippo breeding programs in the U.S.

Currently, pygmy hippos are considered critically endangered, with 2,000 to 2,500 estimated pygmy hippos living in the wild. About 450 pygmy hippos currently live in human care at accredited facilities. Pygmy hippos are native to the tropical rainforests of West Africa, which continue to be cleared for farming, mining and development. Since 1960, an estimated 85 percent of the Ivory Coast’s rainforests have been destroyed. Pygmy hippos are also targeted by poachers, posing further risks to their survival.

Preservation and the Personal Connection

“Our mission is to protect and preserve rare and endangered species by creating wow moments that inspire the stewardship of animals,” Olmstead said. “We do that by giving guests real, hands-on encounters with species they’d rarely meet otherwise, by running managed breeding programs that contribute to global assurance populations, and by partnering with more than a dozen in-situ conservation organizations around the world.”

Meeting the pygmy hippo family is one of several hands-on encounters at Tanganyika. Visitors could swim with otters or penguins, feed penguins and big cats, and meet capybaras, giraffes, rhinos, sloths and more up-close.

“It’s easy to scroll past a fact about an endangered species, but it’s hard to forget the moment a giraffe’s tongue wraps around a piece of lettuce in your hand, or the weight of a rhino’s horn under your palm, or the feeling of swimming alongside an African penguin — something you can only do at [Tanganyika] in the United States,” Olmstead said. “Once a guest has that personal connection, they care, and once they care, they advocate.”

The park also offers donation opportunities, like the Wild at Heart master plan, sponsoring an animal through the Keeper’s List, purchasing a brick, paver or bench, joining Penguins on the Plains or attending Foundation events like Fallapalooza and Twilight Tours.

“Most of us got into this work because of one animal that made us fall in love with the natural world, and what keeps us here is getting to give other people that same moment,” Olmstead said. “There’s no day that looks the same, and there’s nothing else quite like helping people care about a species they didn’t even know existed yesterday.”

For Mars’s first birthday on June 26, Tanganyika will feature a full weekend of celebrations. You can find details online or on the park’s Facebook or Instagram pages. Advanced tickets and reservations are required to visit the park. You can purchase tickets and learn more about the park’s attractions and their conservation efforts on their website twpark.com.