Tanganyika Wildlife Park Shares Cool Unknown Fact About Pygmy Hippos
We all love watching baby animals do cute things, especially when they take everyday things, like swimming, and do them their own way. Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard, Kansas, is home to some internet-famous little ones, including Dwayne the baby giraffe and Mars, the feistiest little pygmy hippo around, as you'll see in this video.
The clip may be short, but it's the cutest 30 seconds you'll spend today. In the caption, Tanganyika shares a surprising fact that many people don't know: pygmy hippos don't actually swim; they push off the bottom and sort of glide through the water. And Mars shows exactly how it's done, and let's just say his style is a lot more fun than his mom Posie's!
@tanganyikawildlifepark We've got keeper Ashley to thank for this gem Did you know pygmy hippos don't actually swim? They push themselves off the bottom and kind of glide through the water… and also do whatever this is that Mars is showing us #mars#babyhippo#pygmyhippo#kansas#animalencounters
why? why? Exciting cute BGM - NaruIDEA
Mars is one of our favorite baby animals on the internet, so we laughed when Tanganyika joked in the caption that pygmy hippos "also do whatever this is that Mars is showing us LOL!" while sharing that swimming fact.
His poor mom was just trying to take a nice, relaxing swim, but Mars is making that impossible. It's like trying to get into the swimming pool with the kids... they can't leave their parents alone to just let them enjoy it. He's such a cutie but also such a handful!
Related: Baby Pygmy Hippo ‘Powers Down' When Getting Those Good Scratches From His Keeper
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Cute Comments About Mars's Swimming Technique
Viewers had some cute things to say about Mars, and the comments were as much fun to read through as watching the video was. @abbyistoooldforthis shared, "Mars is playing mermaids, obviouslyyyy." @Kerrymanyletters added, "I WANNA PLAY MERMAIDS WITH MARS!" @susanedwards47 joked, "Adorable, I love manatees!"
Commenter @jackiofalltrades25 pointed out, "Here we see a water potato doing water potato things." @Nicole Williams added, "A very ornery water potato."
@u_m_m_m_m joked, "Mars is prepping for the 2028 Summer Olympics!" @trenchant_roterius agreed, calling him, "Mars Ester Williams Potato Jones!" @Tricia added, "Mars Potato Jones practicing (under) water ballet. Next task: The Hippo Lake!"
Everybody laughed when @CreativeChaos admitted, "I too look like this when trying to swim. LOL!" @FuelMeOnce pointed out, "Underwater Zoomies!"
We'll watch Mars's zoomies on land or underwater any day!
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This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 8:00 PM.