In 1953 a 10-year-old Oklahoma City girl recorded a novelty song about wanting a hippopotamus for Christmas, it became a hit, and the city responded by buying her an actual hippopotamus. On Tuesday, November 17, Gayla Peevey comes back to the Oklahoma City Zoo to sing it again.
The sing-along starts at 10:30 a.m. on the patio of the Love’s Pachyderm Building at Expedition Africa. Afterward Peevey signs autographs inside the Pachyderm building from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with a break from 12:15 to 12:30. Everything is free with general zoo admission. Guests can bring a keepsake to be signed, one per person.
What actually happened in 1953
“I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” was an instant hit when it was released, and the OKC Zoo turned the joke into a fundraising campaign: get Gayla, and the zoo, a real hippo. Oklahomans donated. On Christmas Eve 1953 a young Nile hippopotamus named Mathilda arrived, and Peevey presented her to the zoo.
Mathilda stayed for nearly 50 years. Hippos are long-lived animals and she spent effectively her whole life as an ambassador for a city that had chipped in to buy her.
Everyone who gave to that campaign is listed in a commemorative book, and the zoo is putting it out for guests to look through during the sing-along. That is the detail worth going for: a page of names of people who paid for a hippopotamus in 1953 because a child sang about one.
The bronze
In 2025 the zoo dedicated a custom bronze called “Gayla’s Hippo Hero,” by Oklahoma City sculptor LaQuincey Reed, honoring both the song and Mathilda. It sits inside the Love’s Pachyderm Building, which is where the autograph line will be, so anyone queueing will be standing next to it.
Peevey is promoting a memoir, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas: A Life Story of Faith, the Hippo, and a Song that Endures. Copies will be on sale at the event and in the zoo’s Safari Gifts shop through the holidays, along with hippo and seasonal merchandise. Light refreshments are available while they last.
What else is on at the OKC Zoo right now?
Two things worth knowing if you are planning the trip.
The zoo’s Military Appreciation Celebration runs through Friday, November 20, with free general admission for active duty, retired and veteran members of the military, National Guard and Reserves, $10 general admission for up to four immediate family members, 10 percent off concessions and Safari Gifts, and $10 off any membership level, all with valid military identification.
OKC Zoo Safari Lights, presented by OG&E, opens Saturday, November 14 and runs nightly through Sunday, January 3, 2027, from 5:30 to 11 p.m., with last check-in at 9:30 p.m. and holiday nights included. Reservations are required.
Seventy-three years is a long run for a novelty record, and most of the reason it is still going is that this one came with an animal attached.
Source: Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden, November 13, 2026.
Quick answers
- When is Gayla Peevey at the OKC Zoo?
Tuesday, November 17, 2026. The sing-along is at 10:30 a.m. on the patio of the Love's Pachyderm Building at Expedition Africa, and she signs autographs inside the building from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with a break from 12:15 to 12:30.
- Does it cost anything?
No. All of the activities are free with general zoo admission. Guests may bring a personal keepsake to be signed, one autograph per person.
- What is the OKC Zoo's connection to the hippo song?
The 1953 record inspired a city fundraising campaign to buy Gayla Peevey, and the zoo, a real hippopotamus. Mathilda, a young Nile hippo, arrived on Christmas Eve 1953 and lived at the zoo for nearly 50 years.
