Please Help Pygmy Hippos

Please help save pygmy hippos.

These captivating creatures have nowhere left to hide. Their forest homes are being torn to pieces by mining, logging, and agricultural expansion, and, all the while, humans are relentlessly hunting them down for their meat.

Shy and non-confrontational, these tiny, timid hippos prefer to flee rather than fight – but they cannot escape the enormous dangers humans impose on them each and every day.

They have been driven to the brink of extinction. They are running out of time.

Classified as endangered, there are now only 2,000 left. There is an imminent threat that we could soon lose them forever.

But if we act now, there is still a chance to save them.

With your donation, we could put into place action plans designed to protect the last pygmy hippos in their remaining strongholds. Your donation could help us to protect their homes in Liberia and Upper Guinea – areas that are home to a whole host of wildlife and that act as huge carbon sinks, which are so important in the fight against climate change.

With your support, we can save pygmy hippos and so much more. So please, donate today, and help us give these fascinating creatures a safe future in their wild homes.

The location of Sapo National Park and Ziama-Wonegizi-Wologizi transboundary forest, two key pygmy hippo strongholds Fauna & Flora has been supporting.

Fauna & Flora has been working diligently with local and international partners to safeguard pygmy hippos across their last remaining homes throughout Liberia and Guinea. Sapo National Park,  Liberia’s largest protected area, and Ziama-Wonegizi-Wologizi transboundary forest, on the border between Liberia and Guinea, are two key areas for pygmy hippos where FFI has been providing support.

In Sapo National Park, data we’ve collected suggests that this could be a crucial stronghold for their last surviving members. Extensive monitoring work has been carried out in this region: camera traps, field surveys, and state of the art eDNA surveys have greatly improved our understanding of pygmy hippos and other rare and endangered species in this area.

The elusive and endangered pygmy hippo, caught on camera in Liberia. Credit: Fauna & Flora/Bucknell University

Fauna & Flora’s monitoring work has given us an unprecedented insight into the ecology, behaviour and distribution of pygmy hippos. From this, we have put together a national action plan for the species. This has outlined some clear strategies for their conservation, and identified possible areas in south-east Libera where conservation corridors can be created, providing pygmy hippos with increased protection essential to their survival.

Protecting these areas has a number of additional benefits: they are home to a whole host of biodiversity, including many other threatened species facing increasing pressures from humans; they provide locals with natural resources essential to their livelihoods; and these huge forest regions harbour a massive amount of carbon, meaning that protecting these regions will help to combat climate change.