Monday, July 18, 2005

Go Ahead! Say Happy Birthday to the World's Oldest...

Nile Hippo. DailyProgress.com | AP News reports on her here. Donna turns 54. Observe:
A hippopotamus dined on fruit and juices frozen into a giant confection during a party celebrating the 3,500-pound animal's 54th birthday.

Hundreds of visitors ate birthday cake Saturday at the Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden while Donna the hippo consumed her frozen fruit.

Zoo keeper John W. Stuteville said Donna is considered one of the world's oldest living Nile hippos. She has already outlived her mate and all eight of their offspring.

Stuteville said that in the wild, hippos usually live to be only 30 to 45 years old, he said.
Go ahead! Visit her zoo's website. Wish her happy birthday! (I can't find such a page, but I'll bet you can.) Go on! You know you want to!