Johannesburg - Jessica the tame hippopotamus celebrated her 14th birthday with a coconut birthday cake this week.
“It went off well yesterday (Tuesday). One of her boyfriends spent the day here and even stayed overnight. He is still here today,” said Tonie Joubert on Wednesday.
Joubert raised Jessica after finding her at a few hours old on the banks of the Blyde River with her umbilical cord still attached.
Jessica now lives with the Joubert family near Hoedspruit in Limpopo.
Joubert said she had a coconut birthday cake, and also enjoyed some other goodies.
“We gave her some cake and she loved it. We also gave her some whole-wheat buns; normally we give her bread but she loved the buns also.”
She also got five kilograms of carrots.
Joubert said it was not raining there for her birthday despite heavy rainfall in other parts of the country.
“We had some tourists here and people gave her birthday kisses.”
Jessica is one of the country's most renowned tame animals. She weighs over 1 400kg, and is a movie star with her own fan club and web page. She loves Rooibos tea and drinks 20 litres of it a day.
She walks in and out of the Joubert house whenever she wants to, and sleeps on a mattress on the veranda with her best mates, five English bull terriers. - Sapa