Fiona the Hippo Makes it to Her First Birthday

She was a long shot to make it this far, but Fiona the hippo turned 1 year old Wednesday ... and the Cincinnati Zoo is having a phat fat celebration!

You'll recall, Fiona was born 6 weeks premature and weighed a mere 29 pounds -- a record for any hippo born in captivity. The good news is she's a very healthy 600 pounds one year later.

Naturally, Fi got a cake for her bday. No ice cream cake though ... strictly fruits and veggies, but she's a herbivore so it's cool. She's so damn cute, we'd almost forget the whole thing about hippos being seriously deadly animals. Almost.