Fiona the Hippo

About

Fiona the Hippo is a hippopotamus at the Cincinnati Zoo, who was born prematurely. The news of her birth, as well, as the zoo's social media posts about the hippo have garnered her a large fanbase online.

Origin

Fiona the Hippo was born on January 24th, 2017. In an Instagram ^[1] post that day, the Cincinnatti Zoo posted a video of the hippo feeding from a bottle. They captioned the video (shown below) "Seventeen-year-old hippo Bibi gave birth early this morning to a female calf. The premature calf was not expected until March and is receiving critical care from vet and nursery staff since the baby was not able to stand to nurse from mom." The post received more than 75,000 views and 7,700 likes in one year.

Spread

One month later, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden published video of Fiona's progress, saying that she outgrew two pools.^[2] The video (shown below, left() received more than 1.1 million views in 11 months.

On May 24th, Fiona's four month anniversary, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden posted a video of the hippo. The video (shown below, right) received more than 4.8 millions videos in less than one year.

On August 16th, the Facebook account "The Fiona Show"^[3] posted the first episode of a web series that tracks the hippo's growth. The video (shown below, left) received more than 230 reactions, 71,000 shares and 11 million views in five months. According to NPR,^[4] 27 million have watched "The Fiona Show" on Facebook.

On January 20th, 2018, Fiona celebrated her first birthday. The Cincinnati Zoo posted a picture of the hippo with a birthday cake and the caption, "Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate Fiona’s birthday presented by Hippo Sak! The birthday girl even made a special appearance and enjoyed a hippo-friendly cake made by our zoo nutritionist!" The post (shown below) received more than 29,000 likes in 48 hours.^[5]

Several media outlets cover Fiona's first birthday, including NPR, Inside Edition,^[6] Mashable,^[7] Food & Wine,^[8] Jezebel^[9] and more.

Relationship With Timothy

On March 8th, 2018, the San Antonio Zoo tweeted^[10] a picture of a hippo named Timothy. They captioned the photograph, "Dear Fiona, My name is Timothy. I have seen you on the internet at the @CincinnatiZoo & you are the most beautiful hippo I have ever seen! Perhaps we can meet someday and be boyfriend and girlfriend? I am single and available. #HippoSwipeRight #TeamFiona Sincerely, Timothy." The post (shown below) received more than 11,000 retweets and 45,000 likes in 24 hours.

People online responded positively and in jest to the zoo's post. That day, Twitter^[11] user @KawhiSoSerious retweeted the image with the caption "Shooters shoot." The post (shown below, left) received more than 950 retweets and 3,000 likes in 24 four days.

The following day, the Cincinnati Zoo responded in a similar fashion.^[12] They posted, "Fiona thinks you’re cute too, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts! Your DNA will decide if you’re the one for our little diva. Any potential mate would have to be ok w/ taking a back seat. Are you ok w/paparazzi? Most importantly, are you willing to relocate to Cincinnati?" The tweet (Shown below, right) received more than 18,000 retweets and 78,000 likes in three days.

On March 10th, Twitter^[13] published a Moments page about the interaction and fan reaction to the tweets.

Various Examples

External References