African Savannah Hippopotamus
Exhibit
Wild Discover Zone
This activity is designed to engage all ages of Zoo visitors. Your duty as an excellent educator
and interpreter is to adjust your approach to fit each group you interact with. Be aware that all
groups are on some kind of a time limit. There are no set time requirements for this interaction.
Read their behavior and end the interaction when they seem ready to move on.
Theme: Sustainability at the Zoo & our Hippo Exhibit
Summary: Educators will lead observation and discussion about how the Zoo is dedicated to
sustainability and how the Hippo Exhibit is also sustainable.
Objectives:
During and after the encounter, guests will:
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Be able to define “sustainability”
How are we working to be “sustainable” at our Zoo
Understand how the hippo exhibit is sustainable.
Participate in observation and discussion about how the filter system works to keep the water
clean with a small footprint on the Zoo’ utility consumption.
Location: Hippo exhibit Filter Room viewing area.
Materials: Graphic showing the system flow, flip chart with graphics to make relevant some of the data
regarding the exhibit and sustainability at the Zoo.
Contents:
Part 1: Breaking the Ice
Doing the Activity
Part 2: Background Information:
 Sustainability at the Zoo
 How features of the Hippo Exhibit are sustainable:
Water is from our storage tanks and Solar Panels help to
power the system.
 How does the Hippo Filtration System work?
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Part 1:
Breaking the Ice:
Welcome the guests when they come to the viewing window and let them know the hippos defecate about
300 lbs. of poop per animal every day. And they almost always poop in the water, making the Zoo’s job of
keeping the water clean difficult.
That will lead to how the Zoo is dedicated to sustainable practices. Ask them if they would like to learn
about sustainability at the Zoo, how the filter system works and why it is so sustainable.
Doing the Activity:
Using the flip charts provided show the images while having a discussion comparing various data points
with something relevant to their lives. See below….
Part 2: Background Information:
*When leading a discussion, you want to encourage the guests to critically think, make educated
guesses, and discover information with your guidance. Ask them guiding questions or create a
scenario for them to think about and discuss. The information and message will more likely stick if
they participate in their learning experience, not just receive a brain dump of information.*
Sustainability at the Zoo:
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden the “Green Zoo in America”
How do we do it?
Sustain-To maintain; keep going; prolong. Webster’s New World Dictionary
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has been dedicated to the conservation of plants and animals since
1875. Proclaimed the “Greenest Zoo in America” in 2010, the Zoo has continued to lead the way in
sustainability and green initiatives by greening its daily operations and reducing its impact on the
environment.
Some ways we are sustainable at our Zoo:
Saving water at the Zoo
Wind Power at the Zoo
Solar Power at the Zoo
LEED at the Zoo
Saving water at the Zoo
Installed Green Roofs
Planted Rain Gardens
Changed everyday behaviors
Fixed Leaks
Added Pervious Pavers
Installed Rain Barrels
Installed Low Flow Toilets
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Wind Power at the Zoo, a 1.2kW wind turbine is installed in the Go Green Garden Exhibit. In 11 mph
average winds, it can produce enough energy to run your dishwasher and refrigerator for an entire year
(2000 kilowatt hours). Our Wind spire wind turbine, along with the solar panels in the Go Green Garden,
are meeting approximately one third of all of the power demands for the Membership and Ticketing
Building.
Solar Power at the Zoo, solar panels have become a regular sight at the Zoo. A 20kw solar array adorns
the roof of the Harold C. Schott Education Center, providing up to 25 percent of the energy needs to
operate the building. 10kw solar panels are at the Go Green Garden Exhibit. These panels, along with the
wind turbine, are providing more than a third of the power demands of the Membership and Ticketing
Building. The latest solar panel project, a 1.56 megawatt array with 6,400 panels installed on a canopy
structure will greet guests as they arrive in the Vine Street Parking Lot. This solar array is the largest, urban,
publicly accessible array in the nation.
LEED at the Zoo, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, or LEED, and has four
levels of certification – Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
We recognize that the majority of an organization’s carbon footprint lies in its buildings and utilities.
Because of this, the Zoo is committed to building all new projects to LEED Silver standards, the first Zoo
in the country to make this commitment publicly. The Zoo currently has more LEED buildings than any
other Zoo in the nation, with three more projects underway:
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Harold C. Schott Education Center – LEED Silver, 2006
Historic Vine Street Village – LEED Platinum, 2009
Zoo Pavilion – LEED Gold, 2009
Zoo Gift Shop – LEED Gold, 2010
Cat Canyon – LEED Gold, 2012
Shipping & Receiving – LEED Silver, 2012
African Savannah – anticipated LEED Platinum
Other ways to reduce energy at the Zoo, The Zoo has been able to drastically reduce its energy usage
by taking a number of different steps, including:
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Upgrading to energy efficient light fixtures to energy efficient ones, as well as placing them on
motion sensors so the lights automatically turn off when no one is in the room
Replacing old equipment and appliances with more efficient boilers, furnaces, water heaters,
refrigerators and freezers
Unplugging any equipment that was not in use on a regular basis
Using heating, ventilating and cooling systems that employ energy management equipment and
software
Harnessing renewable energy through solar panels, geothermal wells, a wind turbine and
biomass
Switching incandescent lights to LED lights for our Festival of Lights, reducing energy usage by
75 percent
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Features of the Hippo Exhibit, some of which are sustainable
About the Hippo Exhibit:
 Water tanks below the Africa exhibit keep 15 million gallons of water = 866 average sized
swimming pools, out of the sewer system annually. The tanks supply water for the Hippo
Exhibit and other water needs in the Africa display area.
 The tanks below the Africa exhibit hold 400,000 gallons of water when full!
 There is about 78,000 gallons of water in the exhibit, filter and holding pool which is equal to 980
bathtubs!
 There is 147 tons of Life Support Equipment in the filtration building which is the weight of
about 90 hippos!
 The hippo solar array is 33 kW (kilowatts). That will produce roughly 45,000 kilowatt hours. It will
handle about 10% of the load from Hippo. That’s also an amount roughly equal to the amount of
electricity that 5 homes would use during a typical year.
How does the Hippo Filtration System work?
A. Water is pulled out of the hippo pool and goes through a screening process that removes large waste.
B. Water is then pumped through large sand filters to remove smaller bits of waste.
C. After sand filtration, water is treated with ozone for clarity and disinfection.
D. Water then moves through a deaeration tower, which removes any leftover ozone and contains
biomedia, or bacteria, that break down unwanted contaminants through biological filtration.
E. Clean water returns to the hippo pool.
G. Every so often, the sand filter is backwashed to prevent clogging. This small amount of wastewater heads
to the sanitary sewer.
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Water tanks buried under the Africa Exhibit provide water for several
exhibits
Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) fully funded
the tanks under Africa in an effort to reduce
storm water runoff. The tanks keep 15 million
gallons of water out of the sewer system
annually! The Zoo’s groundbreaking water
management systems helps keep polluted
overflow from people’s basements and the Ohio
River. Diverting water from the sewer system
has saved tax payers money by reducing issues
caused by flooding, erosion and pollution.
Eventually the Zoo hopes to get 100 percent of
its property off of Cincinnati’s storm water grid.
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has
saved one BILLION gallons of water, enough to provide water (indoor and outdoor use) for 10,000
households for a year, since 2006 when it launched a major initiative to reduce water usage!
When full they hold 400,000 gallons of water which is enough to fill the Hippo Display 5 times.
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Fact File:
Nile Hippopotamus
The hippo is the largest of all of the “hooved mammals”, related to antelopes, deer and other families. The
hippo is the second or third largest land mammal depending on the individual of hippos and Indian rhinos.
They are semi-aquatic and spend the hot days in rivers, lakes and marshes and come out on land to browse
for grasses at night.
Fact File
Scientific name: Hippopotamus amphibius
Height: 50-66 in
Weight: 1400-7000 lbs
Lifespan: 40-50 years
Habitat: Rivers and marshes and open savannah
Diet: Grasses and other vegetation
Status: N/A (not assessed)
Ending the Activity:
Find out if there is any more information they’d like to know about our exhibit and our Hippo Exhibit
.Make sure to remind guests about other cool places to visit or things to see while they are here! Find out
what the guest is interested in and make an appropriate suggestion. Make sure to thank them for stopping
by!
Zone Clean-up:
Put flip charts and attendance clickers inside the cart. Record your attendance on the attendance sheet and
make a note if any materials are missing. Please report any cart issues on the clipboard in the volunteer
room.
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