How a baby hippo goes viral

WASHINGTON — First, Bao Bao and Bei Bei the pandas made a splash at the National Zoo in Washington. Then, April the Giraffe wowed fans at a game park in New York.

Now, meet Fiona the baby hippo, the pride and joy of Cincinnati.

Across America, zoos and animal parks are looking for the next internet sensation — a strategy that tugs at the country’s heartstrings and generates tons of clicks, but one that can also backfire.

Fiona was born prematurely in January, weighing just 13 kilograms.

But from Tuesday, she will be the star of her own series, The Fiona Show on Facebook’s Watch, the social network’s new platform for original video content.

For the premiere, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden — which already has been sharing every little detail of Fiona’s life on social media — has pledged to unveil a neverbefore-seen video of the hippo’s birth.

America has fallen in love with the adorable but somewhat clumsy mammal, whose first steps have felt in some ways like a soap opera, with a regular rhythm of ups and downs. She also has her own hashtag: #TeamFiona.

In one video released by the zoo, fans can see Fiona being bottle-fed by a caretaker shortly after birth, nestled into the woman’s chest.

Then, with the world watching, Fiona found her taste for playtime, diving into the pool to reconcile with her mama, who had initially rejected her at birth.

At seven months, she now weighs a more standard 200 kg.

“We didn’t plan on her becoming a celebrity. It just happened,” Cincinnati Zoo communications director Michelle Curley said.

“We were transparent and communicated her health challenges from the day she was born. People started to root for her and fell in love with the little hippo.”

The idea of turning Fiona into a reality star was not really the zoo’s idea, Curley said.

“Facebook approached us about doing a show about Fiona on their new Watch platform,” said Curley, admitting that she herself is “crazy” about the hippo.

Curley admits that the “Fiona factor” has boosted the zoo’s bottom line.

“Attendance has been great this summer, and some of that can be attributed to the Fiona factor. We have not, however, spent one dollar on ads inviting people to come see Fiona,” she said.

For Ivy Collier, a board member for the nonprofit Animals and Society Institute, turning zoo animals into stars is an “economical” marketing tool.

In recent years in the United States, zoo births — from pandas to eagles — have been followed by hundreds of thousands of people online, thanks to live webcams focused on the animal enclosures.

Collier said she hopes that zoo watching and education will “translate into a deeper interest of animal protection and welfare”.

We didn’t plan on her becoming a celebrity. It just happened.” Michelle Curley, Cincinnati Zoo communications director