Apparently the name “Tucker” was too boring for a flirty hippo at the San Francisco Zoo, so they renamed him after none other than feared and bearded San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson.
The hippopotamus formerly known as Tucker can be seen here on the zoo’s Twitter feed flexing his macho jaw muscles.
The lone Wilson, a Nile Hippopotamus native to Africa, came to San Francisco after he impregnated “Mara” at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas even though she was given contraceptives.
Mara gave birth to their baby “Vision,” named after Topeka’s Vision Bank that won a bid to name her, during a twilight tour in August days after zoo officials discovered she was pregnant.
Topeka Zoo decided three is a crowd for the 28,000-gallon outdoor water pool, and Brian Wilson and his foxy habits had to go.
Wilson took over the exhibit at the zoo that was vacant since staff euthanized 44-year-old “Puddles” in 2007 and 46-year-old “Cuddles’’ in 2008 because of a multitude of problems associated with aging.
But if Wilson lives up to his name, a one-man show is nothing this hippo can’t handle.
