The legacy of the Dallas Zoo's male hippo -- who died in October -- will live on thanks to the birth of a new baby.

Boipelo, a 12-year-old Nile hippopotamus, gave birth about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday after eight months of gestation and seven hours of labor. A couple of hours later, the calf — whose gender has not been determined — was nursing.

"We timed Boipelo's contractions every moment she barrel-rolled in the water, and after about 100 rolls, we saw a baby emerge," Matt James, the zoo's senior director of animal care, said in a written statement. "The baby immediately began moving and kicking and Boipelo swiftly nudged it to the ledge of the pool, where the baby sprawled out and took a break."

Boipelo, the Dallas Zoo's 12-year-old female Nile hippopotamus, gave birth Tuesday following eight months of gestation. (Courtesy / Dallas Zoo)

James said Boipelo has been a very attentive mother, nudging the calf to the surface for air after each time it nurses.

"Hippo calves need to come up every 30 seconds to breathe, and she's doing a great job ensuring the baby is getting everything it needs," he said.

Guests won't be able to see the mom and unnamed baby just yet; they're bonding privately.

Since the Dallas Zoo opened its new hippo exhibit in April 2017, it has dealt with the loss of two hippos.

Boipelo's first baby died soon after birth in February 2018. The zoo said the calf's lungs did not fully inflate and it never took a breath.

In October 2018, Boipelo's mate, Adhama, died suddenly. Keepers and veterinary staff were keeping an eye on the 7-year-old male after noticing he was lethargic and had a diminished appetite. His cause of death was later determined to be heart-related complications from a viral infection, the zoo said.

"We have gone through great loss to get to this remarkable moment of welcoming a healthy hippo calf," Dallas Zoo president and chief executive Gregg Hudson said in the statement. "Our animal care team and our female hippo are nothing short of resilient. We are grateful to have Adhama's legacy live on in this new baby."

In January, zoo staff performed an ultrasound on the 2,420-pound hippo, a difficult process because of her size. They continued gathering images of the baby's heart, chest cavity, head and other body parts in the weeks that followed.

Jan Raines, an associate veterinarian at the zoo, said the bonds zoologists formed with Boipelo after Adhama's death helped during the ultrasound sessions.

The hippo has been growing into her independence and gaining confidence as she adjusts to life without her mate in the Simmons Hippo Outpost, the zoo's mammal curator, John Fried, said in the statement.

The zoo plans to bring in another male hippo later this year. Boipelo and Adhama had been paired together through a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan.

The two hippos were highly celebrated additions to the zoo when they moved to Dallas in March 2017 and into the new $14 million exhibit. Before that, the zoo had not had a hippo since 2001, when its last one died.