Billy (pygmy hippo)
| Species | Pygmy hippo |
|---|---|
| Sex | male |
| Born |
William Johnson Hippopotamus Sometime in the 1920s Possibly Liberia |
| Died | October 11, 1955 |
| Offspring | 23 calves |
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 |
| Harvey Samuel Firestone (left) gave Billy to Calvin Coolidge (right), who donated Billy to the National Zoo. | |
Billy, or William Johnson Hippopotamus, (1920s – October 11, 1955) was a Pygmy Hippopotamus given as a pet to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge. Captured in Liberia, he was given to Coolidge by Harvey Samuel Firestone in 1927. Billy spent most of his life in the National Zoo in Washington D.C.. In addition to his fame as an exotic presidential pet—which afforded him a trip to the 1939 New York World's Fair—Billy is also notable as the common ancestor to most pygmy hippos in American zoos. By the time of his death in 1955, Billy had sired 23 calves, 13 of whom survived at least a year.
In 1927, Harvey Samuel Firestone, the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, acquired Billy in Liberia, where he was captured on one of Firestone Tires' large plantations.Calvin Coolidge, who was the U.S. President at the time, was known for his collection of animals, including many dogs, birds, a wallaby, lion cubs, a raccoon and other unusual animals. At the time, pygmy hippos were virtually unknown in the United States. On May 26, 1927, Coolidge was informed that he would receive the rare hippo, already adult-sized at 6 feet (1.8 m) long and around 600 pounds (270 kg), as a gift.
In Coolidge's autobiography he wrote about the unusual menagerie he collected and stated that he donated many of these animals, including Billy, to the National Zoo. Though Coolidge had a deep fascination with animals, he was overshadowed by Theodore Roosevelt, who was more widely known for and associated with his interest in animals. By August 1927, Coolidge had sent the second largest collection of animals of any president after Roosevelt to the zoo, and paid them frequent visits. Upon his arrival, Billy was one of the most-valuable animals the zoo had ever received, and was only the eighth pygmy hippopotamus to be brought to the United States. Billy was a popular animal; several months after his arrival, The New York Times wrote Billy was "as frisky as a dog. Even the antics of the monkeys go unobserved when the keeper opens the tiny hippo's cage and cuts up with him."
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