'Worst Gender Reveal' Ever? It Involves a Hippo

Texas couple criticized for their methodology, but zoo says Tank 'enjoyed it'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 24, 2019 8:01 AM CDT
Hungry Hippo Eats Watermelon for Gender Reveal Party
Not Tank.   (Getty Images/nattanan726)

Some people might say Bridgette and Jonathan Joseph get the prize for the most creative way to find out the sex of their baby; others, not so much. Put Ana Breton in the latter category. "I did it. I found the worst gender reveal," she tweeted Saturday, along with a video that showed what she was talking about: a 4,000-pound hippo named Tank chomping down on a watermelon filled with organic Jell-O. Turns out the gelatin was blue, meaning the Josephs are likely having a boy, per Time. In the clip Breton originally spotted on TikTok, Jonathan Joseph can be seen hurling the melon into Tank's eagerly open mouth. When the blue liquid squishes out, Joseph pumps his fists in the air with an exuberant "Yes!" and hugs his wife, while someone can be heard on camera saying, "Thank God."

Detractors immediately started weighing in after Breton's tweet went viral, per Fox News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The whole reveal concept is just completely stupid to begin with, but I guess you can make it even dumber," one commenter noted. From another critic: "That person's baby is not remotely important enough to feed a hippo 10 pounds of food coloring." Some were concerned about the hippo's safety. Michael Hicks, director of the Capital of Texas Zoo where Tank resides, says not to worry: Tank often eats the flavored gelatin, including in watermelons that a zoo worker feeds him. "This is the same Jell-O people feed their kids," Hicks says, per the New York Post. "It's totally harmless. He enjoyed it as much as anybody else did." The Texas couple already have a girl and were hoping for a little boy, Bridgette explains in a response to Breton's tweet. (More strange stuff stories.)

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