Meet Maple, Toronto Zoo’s Tiny Tank With Big Attitude
Meet “Maple,” the baby pygmy hippo residing at the Toronto Zoo. Tiny? Absolutely. Quiet little wallflower? Apparently not even close.
CTV News reporter Mike Walker speaks with Toronto Zoo staff and crew officials who spill that the tiny ball of munchkin’ is already proving to be “rambunctious” and “tenacious.” Maple was born on August 2, 2026, to mom Kindia and dad Harvey, making her Canada’s only pygmy hippo calf — and one of just three pygmy hippos in the country.
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The Toronto Zoo officially revealed her name on August 21, saying the three-week-old calf was every bit as sweet, spirited and sassy as her very Canadian name. By then, Maple had already tripled her birth weight to 10.8 kilograms — about 23 pounds — while staying close to mom, nursing, growing teeth and beginning to explore the water.
That includes practicing breath holds, which is both practical pygmy-hippo business and frankly an unfair amount of adorable for one little creature to be carrying around.
There is a bigger story tucked inside all that cuteness. Pygmy hippos are endangered, with the Toronto Zoo citing an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 remaining in the wild. Native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, the species faces pressure from habitat loss tied to logging, mining, agriculture and human settlement, along with hunting.
Maple’s arrival is part of the Toronto Zoo’s wider conservation work through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Pygmy Hippo Species Survival Plan, while the zoo also supports field research and conservation work in Côte d’Ivoire.
For now, Maple and Kindia are still enjoying bonding time behind the scenes in Little Hippo Hollow and are not yet viewable to guests. Which means we’ll happily take the footage until Canada’s tiny tank is ready for her public close-up.
Press play on all the wonders of the natural world!
Meet Maple, Toronto Zoo’s Baby Pygmy Hippo on CTV News Toronto
Mike Walker speaks with Toronto Zoo staff about Maple, the rambunctious and tenacious baby pygmy hippo born at the zoo in August 2026.
Source: Toronto Zoo; CTV News Toronto.
