Perhaps he is having a pleasant dream or he may simply be obliging the snap-happy tourists passing his tank but, either way, he looks pretty pleased with himself.
‘When we saw his face we just thought we had to get a picture,’ said Jay Parker, who took this photo of wife Lauren, 30, with the animal during a trip to San Diego Zoo. Now the innocent holiday snap has taken
cyberspace by storm, popping up on blogs and chatrooms from America to China.
IT consultant Mr Parker, who was also snapped with Otis, even gets fan mail from web users the world over.
‘It’s kind of strange to think there are people out there with a picture of me on their computer but I guess I’m just the hippo man as far they’re concerned,’ added the 35-year-old from Little Rock, Arkansas. the amusing moment came after a day of squabbling between Otis and his new female tank mate Funani. The week we were there the zoo had just put two hippos together for the first time,’ said Mr Parker.
‘On Otis’s back you can see the scarring from his fight with Funani. This is normal hippo behaviour but I don’t think he won. ‘When I look at his face I think he looks pretty tired by it all, or maybe he’s having a happy dream. Either way it’s a great picture.’
