Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the zoo’s veterinarian staff, they were forced to put the bird down.

Elephants trumpeted, touched trunks and flapped their oversized ears upon reuniting with their herd after a complex, five-day move from an urban Australian zoo to a much larger enclosure.

Australian zoos play a "vital" role in the conservation of the species but a ban on importing hippos and their semen due to biosecurity disease risk has caused numbers dwindle in recent years.