The Montgomery Zoo this week announced the birth of a female pygmy hippopotamus.

Anuket was actually born on Feb. 9 but has spent the last month bonding with her mother behind the scenes, according to the zoo.

Named for the Egyptian goddess of the Nile River, Anuket is the child of mother Lola and father Nile. She is Nile’s first daughter.

Zoo visitors can now see her in the Pygmy Hippo nursing suite located near the capybaras. She made her public debut March 14.

This is the eighth pygmy hippo birth at the Montgomery Zoo in the past nine years.

Anuket is described as full of energy, feisty, yet full of love, with “a particular fondness for watermelon.”

Pygmy hippos, native to the forests and swamps of western Africa, are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A cousin of the much larger common hippopotamus, the pygmy hippo is semi-aquatic, and relies on proximity to water to maintain moisturized skin and a cool body temperature.

Reclusive and nocturnal, it is a difficult animal to study in the wild, though they breed well in captivity.

Full grown, the pygmy hippo typically reaches 30 to 32 inches in height, 59 to 70 inches in length, and 400 to 600 pounds in weight. It is estimated that pygmy hippos can grow to ten times their birth weight by the age of five months.

The zoo’s previous calves—Ronda (2024), Meela (2023), Hadari (2022), Betty Rose and Blanche (2019), Levi (2018), and Monty (2016)—have all been placed at other accredited facilities to support the continued growth of this endangered species.