Cats & Dogs - White House Pets - Billy the Hippo

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A likely descendant of Billy lounges at the Louisville Zoo.

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White House Pets - Billy the Hippo

Billy, the Pygmy Hippo, is one of the most unusual pets ever kept by a President of the United States.

In 1927, Firestone Tire founder Harvey Firestone acquired Billy in Liberia. Calvin Coolidge, who was the U.S. President at the time, was known for his collection of unusual exotic animals which included dogs, birds, a wallaby, lion cubs, a raccoon and other unusual animals. As pygmy hippos were then unknown in the United States Firestone gave the exotic animal to Coolidge as a gift.

Coolidge donated many of his unusual menagerie, including Billy, to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Pygmy hippos breed well in captivity, and as one of the earliest pygmy hippos in captivity in the U.S. zoo system, Billy went on to become the direct ancestor of nearly all pygmy hippos in American zoos. Since Billy's arrival, 58 pygmy hippos have been born at the National Zoo.

This news arrived on: 03/19/2007

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