Animals: Mother Hate

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The hippopotamus, which looks like its sesquipedalian name, is actually so called because a Greek traveler thought it resembled a "horse of the river." Like horses, most hippos are kind and gentle, though a few are extremely cruel at times. Ordinarily docile is Rosie, 15-year-old, 3,000-lb. female hippo in Manhattan's Central Park Zoo, who last week gave birth for the first time. Despite zookeepers' precautions, Rosie butted her newly-born unmercifully, refused it food. The baby hippo, a 52-lb. male, was moved to a separate cage, fed goat's milk and cream through a hose. But sad-eyed and dejected by his solitude, he grew weaker, in five days' time died of internal injuries.