The new star of the Berlin Zoo is a baby pygmy hippopotamus (who will never be free)

The internet is already crazy about Brötchen, the pygmy hippopotamus calf born at the Berlin Zoo. Sadly, she will live her entire life in a cage, far from her natural habitat.

With big, curious eyes, still-wobbly steps, and a round silhouette reminiscent of a fresh-baked roll (hence the name Brötchen, which means “roll” in English), the new star of the Berlin Zoo is a female pygmy hippopotamus calf born on May 9, 2026. Her mother is called Debbi. Weighing barely twenty kilograms, the little one has already made a triumphant debut in her outdoor enclosure, even outshining her sister Toni, who has since been transferred to a facility in France.

The scientific team, led by Andreas Knieriem, is riding the media wave by pointing out that naming animals after food is a marketing strategy that has always proven successful. As far back as 2005, the German capital was already enamored with the hippopotamus Bulette, named after the famous local meatball. Today, the internet idolizes global icons such as the penguin Pesto or the baby hippos Haggis in Scotland and Moo Deng in Thailand, the latter named after a pork dish.

During her first attempts at swimming, Brötchen displayed the species’ typical gait: these animals do not swim in the traditional sense, but move along the bottom of the water by pushing off with their legs in order to glide. The baby’s image was propelled to fame by the renowned TV host Enie van de Meiklokjes, a leading figure in German baking, who became Brötchen’s honorary godmother.

A critically endangered species

Behind the photographers’ flashes and ticket sales lies a dramatic biological crisis for the species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN), fewer than 2,500 adult pygmy hippos remain in the wild. These elusive inhabitants of the forests and swamps of Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have already entirely disappeared from Nigeria due to rampant deforestation, intensive agriculture, and mining activities.

Behind Social Media: The Invisible Condemnation of Captivity

While the official narrative encourages visitors to be moved by Brötchen’s first clumsy attempts to float, the structural reality of these institutions reveals a profoundly different scenario. These rare African mammals, known for their essentially solitary nature, are deprived of their freedom and forced to spend their entire lives inside artificial enclosures, thousands of kilometers from their native habitat.

The natural dynamics of exploration, foraging, and socialization are thus squeezed between concrete, glass walls, and the constant noise of tourists seeking selfies. Celebrating a birth inside a cage, while presenting it as a victory, risks trivializing the idea that the survival of a species can be achieved at the expense of the dignity of the individuals who make it up.