ON THE TRAIL STUDYING SECRETIVE ANIMALS PYGMY HIPPOS IN THE WILD by Joyce Markovics
HIDDEN HIPPOS In 2013 wildlife veterinarian Gabriella Gaby Flacke was hiking through the Taï Forest in West Africa It was hot and sticky Sometimes it felt too hot to breathe says Gaby She ducked under branches and dodged tangles of tree roots Monkeys looked down at her from the canopy Snakes dangled from trees like vines Spider webs large enough to catch basketballs stretched across her path A forest in Ivory Coast LOOK CLOSER The Taï Forest is located in a country called Ivory Coast or Côte d’Ivoire Pygmy hippos also live in Guinea Sierra Leone and Liberia all of which are in West Africa 4 R
Gaby was excited to see animals all around her What an incredible place where the wildlife comes to you she says However the one creature Gaby was searching for was nowhere in sight Where was the mysterious pygmy hippopotamus hiding Veterinarian Gabriella Gaby Flacke holds a baby pygmy hippo at a zoo I’ve loved hippos since I was a small child she says 5
