CINCINNATI — Fiona the hippo got a surprise gift for her third birthday -- a fruit basket from the San Antonio Zoo’s 4-year-old male hippo, Timothy.
Fiona celebrated her birthday Friday, and gifts piled in from around the country for the female born six weeks premature in 2017. The most elaborate present, however, may have come from San Antonio’s love-struck hippo, KSAT reported. The San Antonio Zoo sent an “edible arrangement” of strawberries, cantaloupes, pineapples and grapes, the television station reported.
Wait, there’s more. Timothy “coaxed” country singer Aaron Watson to make a Facebook video that was posted on the zoo’s social media page, WKRC reported.
“I feel like I know you, because Timorthy and I talk about you all the time,” Watson says to Fiona in the video. “Any time we’re texting, or talking, all he ever talks about is Fiona this, and Fiona that.”
“As you turn 3 I want to say that with each passing year you become more and more beautiful, charming and sweet!” Timothy “wrote” in a note that accompanied his gift.
Timothy’s advances, which have been going on for quite some time, do not surprise Cincinnati Zoo director Thane Maynard.
“Fiona won the hearts of Cincinnatians when she fought to survive after being born six weeks early and terribly underweight,” Maynard told WKRC. “Three years later, people all over the world are still crazy about this normal, healthy hippo!”