Dwergnijlpaard Bagatelle overleden

It is with sadness that we share the news that the female pygmy hippopotamus Bagatelle died unexpectedly last weekend. The cause of death is being investigated by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University.

Bagatelle was 24 years old and had lived in Zooparc Overloon since 2003, where she gave birth to 3 cubs. One son now lives in Zoo Berlin, the oldest daughter moved to Japan and youngest daughter Kiara still lives in ZooParc. Although she was known to have health problems, her passing was unexpected for our animal caretakers, who cared for her diligently for many years. Bagatelle was an iconic animal in the park and will be missed, both by visitors and the ZooParc team.

Since pygmy hippos are solitary animals by nature, caretakers saw almost no reaction to her mother's passing with Kiara. Kiara will have a male companion in the new Ngyuwe theme area, which opens this summer. We hope this will contribute to new offspring of this species in the park in the future.