Hippos are semi-aquatic megafauna with specialist aquatic and social needs. Providing adequate welfare in captivity requires large water features, appropriate social groups, and careful management.
Hippo welfare depends fundamentally on adequate water access. A hippo without sufficient water for full immersion experiences skin desiccation, thermal stress, and deprivation of a behaviour occupying the majority of their natural time budget. Inadequate social management creates aggression and injury risks — hippos are capable of killing conspecifics and require carefully planned group management. Environmental enrichment tends to focus on terrestrial features, neglecting the aquatic complexity that constitutes their primary habitat. Deep, large water features with appropriate filtration and temperature management are welfare essentials, not optional features. Dental health monitoring, often overlooked, prevents the chronic pain of untreated dental disease common in zoo hippos.