Photograph of Obaysch, the Hippopotamus, photographed lying down with his eyes closed. Behind the bars to the Hippopotamus House stand observers.

Obaysch was London Zoo's first hippopotamus. He arrived at London Zoo on 25 May 1850. He proved to be very popular and attracted up to 10,000 visitors to the Zoo every day, with visitor numbers doubling for the year 1850.

Photograph is from a set of 43 photographs (2905515-2905557) of animals at London Zoo.