Inside Vadodara’s Sayajibaug Zoo’s hippopotamus enclosure, shortly after their feeding time, six-year-old Mangla nudges her new companion, five-year-old Bheem, who responds by submerging in the pond only to emerge from the water moments later.

A magnificent splash follows, sending across ripples as the two indulge in underwater chasing and sparring. It has been a fortnight since Mangla and Bheem met and their newly forged bond has turned into a delightful sight for visitors.

A hippo bull from the Sakkarbaug zoological park in Junagadh, Bheem was brought to Sayajibaug earlier in March as the last of the exchanges between the two zoos under the ongoing programme. In lieu of Bheem, Sayajibaug is readying to hand over Mangla’s mother, 22-year-old Dimpy, to Junagadh where she will find a companion in Neeraj.

For the two zoos, the exchange has meant that the new pairs now enhance the possibility of breeding offspring.
Sayajibaug Zoo Curator Dr Pratyush Patankar tells The Indian Express, “We have signed an exchange programme with Sakkarbaug zoo in 2025 and the hippos are the last to be exchanged. We realised that we had a mother-daughter pair in Vadodara, while Sakkarbaug zoo has three males and one female… Therefore, in order to follow the CZA guidelines that animals should preferably be kept in pairs, we decided to exchange one female in lieu of a male hippo.”

Patankar says that as part of the exchange, the officials of the Junagadh zoo arrived in Vadodara in early March with Bheem, who was first introduced into a different section of the pond in the enclosure, a grille separating him from Mangla. “While we were confident that we could have introduced him directly to Mangla, we wanted to be cautious. When we saw that the two also interacted through the grille, we decided to release him in the same pond on April 19… Since then, they have been getting along and warming up to each other… Mangla mostly leads him around the enclosure and he follows. They share their food too.”

Patankar says that while Mangla had been separated from her mother Dimpy a few months ago, following an incident of aggression by the mother, Bheem has only recently been separated from his mother, who is back in Junagadh and therefore may be “subdued” in his initial days at Vadodara. “He is currently happy to follow Mangla as it is perhaps a new enclosure for him. As for Mangla, though Dimpy had been separated in another section, the mother kept a watch on her. However, the few months of living alone may have worked well for her as she is delighted to have a companion and also independent now.”

He hopes that Mangla and Bheem — who are in the prime of their mating years — will eventually breed offsprings, keeping up the zoo’s previous record of successful hippo breeding. Patankar explains, “Hippos have a long life span of about 40 years… They are ready to mate at about five years of age and known to have offspring… They are extremely territorial and eventually the bull dominates the territory. Hippos create a harem-like system with a dominant male. When a new male comes, the old male is shunted and the new male takes over the herd. This is the natural cycle in the wild. Therefore, the pair of Bheem and Mangla that we now have is at a ripe age. But, we are not in a hurry to have them breed. Even if they take two years, we do not mind as the gestation period in hippos is the shortest among large mammals — of seven months only as compared to 22 months for elephants and about 16 months for rhinos…”

The Sayajibaug zoo is currently preparing to lure Dimpy into the cage left behind by the officers of the Junagadh zoo. Patankar says, “The original plan was that they would take Dimpy back while leaving Bheem here but Dimpy is known to be a bit aggressive and refused to enter the cage… After waiting for about three days, the officials left and we are making attempts to pack her in the cage by next week so that she can be sent to Junagadh to meet Neeraj, the bull.”

Deadly attack in 2020

For Patankar, the decision to send Dimpy off also comes with haunting memories of a deadly attack in March 2020, when Patankar had accidentally fallen in the enclosure while Dimpy had been let loose. While Patankar had sustained grievous bite injuries, a security guard succumbed after several days in critical care as the canine teeth of the megaherbivore had ruptured in a major artery on the leg of the guard during the attack.

Stating that he has fully recovered and subsequently visited the hippopotamus enclosure as part of his duty, Patankar says, “In a zoo, you cannot get emotionally attached with animals as you have to be prepared to let them go at some point of time. But we do have a bond with most of them… In case of Dimpy, she has always been aggressive and perhaps, since the passing away of her mate, Chunnu, during an encounter between the two in 2020, she has been seeking a mate. This would be the best thing for her.”

Speaking of the decision to retain the calf Mangla and send off Dimpy, Patankar said, “We just calculated the age of the pairs. We have Mangla about six years old and Bheem is five so there is no issue of compatibility.

Similarly, the Junagadh zoo already has a fairly young hippo pair — Bheem’s biological parents — that were brought to Junagadh from Mysuru… We opted for the younger pair in Vadodara as it gives us the liberty of time without a rush to breed. Junagadh will now have two pairs to continue breeding possibilities…Neeraj is also of the same age as Dimpy so they will be compatible too.”

Patankar reflected that had Dimpy’s male partner, Chunnu, survived the injuries sustained in the clash, the zoo would have continued to have the same pair. Dimpy was brought to the Sayajibaug zoo in January 2017 from the Indore zoo, just a few months after Chunnu had been brought in, in October 2016. The Sayajibaug zoo had witnessed two offspring from Dimpy and Chunnu — of these, the first offspring had died after birth while the second-born, Mangla, survived. While the zoo had separated Chunnu and Dimpy during the period after Mangla was born, the first encounter between the two after a period of separation had turned aggressive and Chunnu was killed.

Since January 2025, under the exchange programme with Junagadh zoo, the Sayajibaug zoo has received pairs of wolves, wild dogs, hyenas, swamp deers (Barasingha), barking deer, pelicans, Demoiselle cranes and the hippo bull.