Baby pygmy hippo takes first underwater dip in Berlin zoo pool

Pygmy Hippopotamus Toni made her underwater debut in front of members of the public on Tuesday, alongside fellow hippos.

She’s the youngest of four siblings, her mother having raised three calves between 2004 and 2008.

Workers at the zoo say Toni is developing in a healthy way.

Florian Sicks, Curator for Mammals at Berlin Zoo, said, 'Toni is now almost five months old. And she is developing splendidly, as expected for a pygmy hippopotamus. She has now increased her birth weight almost tenfold, or more than tenfold. She is even showing her first teeth.'

'She is already eating a bit of hay and nibbling on the peanuts. Otherwise she is heavily dependent on her mother's milk. But she is developing as we would expect for a pygmy hippopotamus, still resting a lot, but there are always some nice periods of activity where you can watch her romping around,' he added.

The first time the zoo bred a pygmy hippo was just over a century ago, in 1921.

Reclusive and nocturnal animals, pygmy hippos are native to forests and swamps of west Africa.

They're primarily found in Liberia, but also in other countries including Guinea and Ivory Coast.