Adorable Baby Hippo Obi Goes For A Swim At The Melbourne Zoo

Melbourne Zoo introduced a baby hippo to their big pool on June 17, and the adorable creature went swimming for the first time.

Baby Hippo Makes A Splash In Viral Video

Obi, a pygmy hippo born at the Melbourne Zoo in Australia in May, became the first member of his species to be born at the zoo. Not even a month old, Obi was ready to have his first swimming lesson with his mother Petre on Wednesday.

The name Obi means “heart” in Nigeria’s Igbo language, and the baby hippo proved how much heart he had as he entered the big pool for a splash. Pygmy hippos are endangered and native to West Africa. When full-grown, Obi will probably weigh about 100 lbs. and stand less than two feet tall.

The video shows a cute Obi flopping his way into the water, going under and then quickly lifting his head up for air. Obi appears to test out the waters, simply floating around a bit until he finds his mother and cuddles up close to her. Even though the baby hippo was ready to go off on his own he wanted to stay close to his mother.

The baby hippo video has already received over 300,000 views on YouTube. Check out the adorable animal in its new habitat for yourself: