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**PRESS RELEASE**

January 26, 2012

Hippos to weigh in to determine the “biggest winner”– Weigh-in contest ends at midnight on January 27 –

  Photo credit: Ric Brewer/Woodland Park Zoo

Woodland Park Zoo's hippo weigh-in contest ends at midnight on Jan. 27. Shown in photo is 12-year-old Guadalupe in training to step on the zoo's new scale for hippos

WHAT

How much do the hippos at Woodland Park Zoo weigh?! The press is invited to find out when 12-year-old hippo Guadalupe steps on the scale. The weigh-in will wrap up the two-week hippo weight-guessing contest. The other hippo, 33-year-old Water Lily, will be weighed in a private session.

The online contest, which ends at midnight on January 27, invites Washington state residents to guess the COMBINED WEIGHT of both hippos. The winning entry will be the closest – under or over – to the combined weight. The prize for the winner will be a meet ‘n’ greet with the hippos behind the scenes in the hippo barn, a 4-gallon bucket of Zoo Doo, six single-day passes to the zoo, and a ZooParent hippo adoption with a hippo plush toy. The entry forms and complete rules are at www.zoo.org/hippocontest. 

WHEN

Hippo weigh-in session: Wednesday, February 1, 9:30-10:00 a.m.

WHERE

Meet at Woodland Park Zoo’s West Entrance at Phinney Ave. N. between N. 55^th & N. 56^th Sts. Park in the inner north lot off N. 59^th St. & Phinney Ave. N. where offices are located. PR staff will escort the press to the hippo barn

WHO

Hippo Guadalupe, 12 years old; Woodland Park Zoo animal management staff

INFO

The weigh-in session is part of Woodland Park Zoo’s exemplary animal care program to monitor the weights and diets of the zoo’s animals to help ensure their long-term health. The scale is a new acquisition for the hippos and the zookeepers are currently conditioning the pachyderms to walk on the scale and hold still for weights.

Guadalupe arrived at Woodland Park Zoo in 2003 from Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Water Lily was born at Houston Zoo and has been a favorite animal ambassador for visitors since she arrived at the zoo 33 years ago. Visitors can enjoy viewing the hippos at the zoo’s award-winning African Savanna. Other animals in the African Savanna include giraffe, ostrich, oryx and lions.

Hippos live in western, central, eastern and southern parts of Africa, and are one of the most iconographic species on the African savanna. Excellent swimmers, they prefer to amble along the bottom of slow-moving or stagnant water. An adult hippo can stay under water for up to five minutes. Hippopotamuses are listed as a vulnerable species, primarily because humans have excessively hunted hippos for their meat, fat, ivory teeth and hides.

Zoo winter hours through April 30: 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. daily. For more information or to become a zoo member, call 206.548.2500 or 548.2599 (TTY), or visit the zoo’s website at www.zoo.org.

Accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, award-winning Woodland Park Zoo is famed for pioneering naturalistic exhibits and setting international standards for zoos in animal care, conservation and education programs. Woodland Park Zoo is helping to save animals and their habitats in Washington state and in 50 countries around the world. By inspiring people to care and act, Woodland Park Zoo is making a difference in our planet’s future. For more information, visit www.zoo.org.

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