hippos water volume problem??

[geo]

this issue is really bugging me - i made a pygmy hippo enclosure with more than enough room, both land and water wise. the barrier of the enclosure says there is 707m of water with 4.79m depth, more than enough for them, but for some reason the hippos descriptions is stuck saying there's only 154m/300m for them and this is making their welfare very low and its very frustrating. i've removed the water and replaced it heaps of times, moved the hippos out and back and even checked if the area is traversable for them - which it is. but they just keep walking along the border of the water and they can so easily go in but just won;t. this issue is very frustrating :( has anyone encountered this before? what can i do?

[Varick]

While no animal can jump into or out of water, hippos are a bit different from other water animals like the Asian small clawed otter. The otter just needs a bit of slope to enter the water and can then go right into swimming in deep water; the hippo needs a gradual slope
to walk into the water. So, give them a slope that they can walk down from the water's edge to a shallow bottom of water. There may be more going on in your situation but without a screen shot this is what I am assuming is the problem.
Edit: Sloping applies to the whole bottom of your lake as hippos do not really swim but walk/bounce along the bottom. This actually happens in real life with hippos well with the large ones; I assume it applies to the pygmy hippos also.

[audiolady]

When I need water, I like to turn the intensity down when digging, and zoom in a little closer, to make sure the slope isn't too steep. That might help you in the future. Hope it helps.

[grampers62]

There is a minimum depth that affects the usable water area for the hippos. If memory serves me it's around 2 meters deep for hippos. Also note that there is a minimum distance from walls of water bodies that affects the usable water area. If memory doesn't fail me that distance is just under 1.75 meters. With these factors considered the usable area of a body of water can much smaller than the the total listed in the habitat overview. The hippo is one of the species that need a very gentle slop to enter the water all the way to the deep area. The heat maps do a fair job at showing this.

[Just Kevin]

Penguins can jump in and out of water :-) but in the game they still need a slope. Does this problem with the hippos still happen when you reload? What I have learned with water is always have far too much. Saves a lot of hassle in the long run.