Bhubaneswar, May 20: A 15-year-old female hippopotamus was found dead at Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) early Saturday morning.
According to the zoo authorities, the NZP staffers spotted the carcass riddled with wounds floating in a pool at around 5am. It is suspected that infighting among fellow inmates could have caused its death.
NZP deputy director Jayanta Das said, “An autopsy has been conducted in the afternoon which confirms that the death was due to infighting with its male counterpart. There were several wounds on its body.”
The zoo authorities have decided to segregate the males from the females to avoid any untoward incident in future. “This would also to check breeding for two years to control the population of hippos,” he said.
With the death of the female hippo, the number of hippopotamuses has decreased to 17, of which seven are male, eight female and two are newborns. (PNN)