Pygmy Hippopotamus - Conservation

Conservation

The greatest threat to the remaining pygmy hippopotamus population in the wild is loss of habitat. The forests in which pygmy hippos live have been subject to logging, settling and conversion to agriculture, with little efforts made to make logging sustainable. As forests shrink, the populations become more fragmented, leading to less genetic diversity in the potential mating pool.

Because of their reclusive lifestyle they are not a target of subsistence hunting, though they are hunted opportunistically by bush hunters. Their meat is said to be of excellent quality, like that of a wild boar; unlike those of the common hippo, the pygmy hippo's teeth have no value. The effects of West Africa's civil strife on the pygmy hippopotamus are unknown, but unlikely to be positive. The pygmy hippopotamus is capable of being killed by leopards, pythons and crocodiles. How often this occurs, however, is unknown.

C. liberiensis was identified as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2007 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) project. Some populations inhabit protected areas, such as the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone.

The Zoo Basel in Switzerland holds the international studbook and coordinates the entire captive pygmy hippo population that freely breeds in zoos around the world. Between 1970 and 1991 the population of pygmy hippos born in captivity more than doubled. The survival of the species in zoos is more certain than the survival of the species in the wild. In captivity, the pygmy hippo lives from 42 to 55 years, longer than in the wild. Since 1919, only 41 percent of pygmy hippos born in zoos have been male.