The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is ready to prove to the world, or at least the Queen City, that hippos can, indeed, fly at the Red Bull Flugtag this August.
Some of the zoo’s employees will be participating in the contest from energy drink company Red Bull when it comes to Cincinnati on Saturday, Aug. 9. The high-energy competition features teams designing and building human-powered flying machines that will launch from a platform to soar over the Ohio River to see how far they can go. The zoo’s team name is “When Hippos Fly,” with the crew of animal lovers and conservationists trading their safari booths for flight suits as they channel the energy of Sam the Bald Eagle and Fiona the Hippo.
“Sam flew at select games at Great American Ballpark for 20 years before retiring last year, and he is well known around here,” Cincinnati Zoo’s Flugtag team captain Kim Denzler said in a press release. “It seemed fitting to make him the face of our craft, especially since he was injured in the wild and could not fly, only glide, just like our flying craft!”
Denzler works at the zoo as the digital solutions manager. Her father, Gary Denzler, worked with birds at the zoo, including Sam, for 50 years before retiring. He’s also the sculptor who created the bust of Martha the passenger pigeon at the zoo.
“Dad was a great resource for this project! He offered a lot of advice during the design and construction phase,” said Denzler. “He also arranged for our team pilot [Eunice Framm], who is a zookeeper in our Children’s Zoo, to get some airtime in a real Cub airplane so she could get an idea of what it will feel like when she’s flying over the Ohio River!”
The zoo says the planning and construction of the flying craft took months, and it’s made out of bamboo grown on the zoo’s grounds. Framm will sit at the base of the flying craft, which has been designed to look like the beloved Cincinnati Zoo hippo, Fiona.
Red Bull Flugtag will be held along the Ohio River at Sawyer Point starting at noon on Saturday, Aug. 9. You can also vote for the fan-favorite flying craft, including the zoo’s, here.
This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 5, 2025.
