2-913-639 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The female hippopotamus, at the Zoological Society's Gardens, Regent's-Park, 1854. 'Everyone remembers the excitement which was created by the arrival in the metropolis [London] of the first Hippopotamus [Obayseh], in 1850...the huge size of this promising five-year-old was scarcely appreciable until the arrival of his companion Adhela...She is still attended by an Arab...A large and massive building has been constructed for the male, who has actually outgrown the accommodation originally prepared for him; and the only pair of hippopotami which have ever graced the Vivaria of Europe here seen to find a congenial home, if we may form a judgment from the exuberant health which both the animals enjoy'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.