Hippopotamuses are semi-aquatic mammals with specific needs for water access, space, and social housing. Meeting these needs is a significant challenge in zoo management.
Hippopotamus welfare in zoo settings centres primarily on water access quality and quantity. Without adequate pool space allowing natural movement and full submersion, hippos cannot thermoregulate properly and experience skin problems from inadequate moisture and natural secretion distribution. Social housing poses challenges: hippos are social but their territorial behaviour means incompatible individuals in confined spaces can result in serious injury. Modern hippo management requires large, deep pools, appropriate social grouping, and environmental enrichment that exploits their natural foraging and exploratory behaviours through substrate feeding and browse provision.