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It’s a Boy! Athens Zoo Welcomes Birth of Rare Pygmy Hippo 

A newborn pygmy hippo is seen in his pen, at the Attica Zoological Park near Athens, Greece, February 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A newborn pygmy hippo is seen in his pen, at the Attica Zoological Park near Athens, Greece, February 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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It’s a Boy! Athens Zoo Welcomes Birth of Rare Pygmy Hippo 

A newborn pygmy hippo is seen in his pen, at the Attica Zoological Park near Athens, Greece, February 27, 2024. (Reuters)
A newborn pygmy hippo is seen in his pen, at the Attica Zoological Park near Athens, Greece, February 27, 2024. (Reuters)

A rare and endangered pygmy hippopotamus has been born in Athens' Attica Zoological Park for the first time in 10 years, delighting conservationists.

A lack of male pygmy hippos in captivity had complicated breeding efforts, so zoo staff were "absolutely thrilled" the baby was a boy, Noi Psaroudaki, the zoo's wildlife veterinarian, told Reuters.

"This is the first birth in the zoo in 2024, and what a birth!" Psaroudaki said.

"Every captive birth of pygmy hippos is extremely important. We're very happy to see this baby grow into a healthy adult hippo, and hopefully one day reproduce," she said.

Pygmy hippos are native to swamps and rainforests in western Africa. They are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and it is estimated only about 2,000-2,500 still live in the wild.

Weighing 7 kg (15.4 pounds), the male calf - whose name will go to a vote - was born on Feb. 19 and joins his parents Lizzie and Jamal as the only pygmy hippos at the zoo.

The hippo, solitary and nocturnal by nature, will remain with its mother for a couple of months until it ventures into the outdoors enclosure.

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Venice Is Sinking… But Italian Engineer Suggests Plan to Lift the City

Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
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Venice Is Sinking… But Italian Engineer Suggests Plan to Lift the City

Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)
Boats sail on a canal as flags of EU, Italy and Venice fly at half-mast at the building of Veneto Regional Council to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis in Venice on April 22, 2025. (Photo by Sergei GAPON / AFP)

It’s the “floating city” but also the sinking city. In the past century, Venice has subsided by around 25 centimeters, or nearly 10 inches, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, the average sea level in Venice has risen nearly a foot since 1900.

It’s a tortuous pairing that means one thing: Not just regular flooding, but an inexorable slump of this most beloved of cities into the watery depths of its famous lagoon.

For visitors, its precarious status is part of the attraction of Venice — a need to visit now before it’s too late, a symbol that humanity cannot win against the power of nature.

For Venetians, the city’s island location has for centuries provided safety against invasion, but also challenges.

Tides have got ever higher and more frequent as the climate crisis intensifies. And the city sinks around two millimeters a year due to regular subsidence.

But what if you could just... raise the city? It sounds like science fiction. In fact it’s the idea of a highly respected engineer who thinks it could be the key to saving Venice.

While the Italian government is currently spending millions of euros each year raising flood barriers to block exceptionally high tides from entering the lagoon, Pietro Teatini, associate professor in hydrology and hydraulic engineering at the nearby University of Padua, says that pumping water into the earth deep below the city would raise the seabed on which it sits, pushing Venice skyward.

By raising the level of the city by 30 centimeters (just under 12 inches), Teatini believes that he could gift Venice two or three decades — during which time the city could work out a permanent way to fight the rising tides.

“We can say we have in front of us 50 years [including the lifespan of the MOSE] to develop a new strategy,” he says, according to CNN. “We have to develop a much more drastic project.”