Joanna's Hippos

Home: The rivers, lakes, swamps, and wallows of Africa

Description:

The Hippopotamus has a round body, short stubby legs and a very large mouth. The head is large and broad, the eyes, ears, and nose are located on the top of the head. The Hippo is able to close it's ears and nostrils when it goes underwater and still see. The hippopotamus, whose hide alone can weigh half a ton, is the third-largest living land mammal, after elephants and white rhinos. The hippopotamus continues to thrive in other parts of Africa. The hippo's proportions reflect its sedentary, amphibious existence. Its plump and bulky body is set on short, stumpy legs, with each foot having four toes. Although webbed, the toes splay enough to distribute the weight evenly over each toe and therefore adequately support the hippopotamus on land. With very thick skin, especially over the back and rump, the grayish-brown body is almost completely hairless, with only a few bristles around the mouth and the tip of the tail. The hippo has neither sweat nor sebaceous glands but does have unique glands that produce a viscous red fluid, leading to the myth that a hippopotamus "sweat blood." The hippopotamus relies on water or mud to keep it cool, and the red fluid may have a similar function, but it is often produced in copious amounts when the animal is excited.

Diet:

The Hippoptamus is herbivorus, a vegetarian.They eat grasses which grow on the ground. A Hippopotamus eats between 80 - 120 pounds of vegetation a day.

Habitat & Range:

Rivers and Lakes, not necessarily very deep, with pools of slow moving water and banks with good quality grazing, are the ideal conditions for Hippopotamuses.

Skin:

The skin of the hippo is thick and almost hairless. Oily red drops ooze from its pores leading people to once believe that it was sweating blood. This oily substance helps to keep the skin moist, and possibly kill germs and heal wounds. After the sun goes down hippos leave the water to feed on grazing grounds, grass being their main staple. They have been known to eat water plants. An adult hippo will consume as much as one hundred and fifty pounds of grass a day. If danger threatens, a hippopotamus head back to the water. A strong male will control his territory, in and out of the water.

Behaviour:

The Hippo lives in small in small herds between 15 - 30 animals, these herds are generally females with young and one male. The Hippopotamus is very territorial, the males often fight for dominance. They use their canine teeth to fight with. The losing male usually goes off by himself.

Birth:

A single calf is born after a gestation period of about 8 months. The cow will leave the herd, and give birth in a dense bush remaining there, with her offspring for some time. Typically, common hippo calves are born underwater. They must quickly swim to the top to catch their first breath, close their nostrils as their parents do, and then submerge to nurse. Yet it is not quite as difficult as it might seem: hippo calves are able to do all this only minutes after birth.
A young hippo can only stay under water for about half a minute, but adults can stay submerged up to six minutes. Young hippos can suckle under water by taking a deep breath, closing their nostrils and ears and wrapping their tongue tightly around the teat to suck. This procedure must be instinctive, because newborns suckle the same way on land. A young hippo begins to eat grass at 3 weeks, but its mother continues to suckle it for about a year. Newborns often climb on their mothers' backs to rest. Compared to other animals, hippos are not very susceptible to disease, so in suitable habitats, their numbers can increase quickly. Their chief predators are people, who may hunt hippos for their meat, hides and ivory teeth.

Male:

A male Nile hippo grow up to 15 feet long and weigh up to 8,000 pounds. Hippos are very territorial and will attack one another and other creatures—including people—to hold their ground. They are powerful and surprisingly fast. While Nile hippos are usually sluggish on land, they can gallop at up to 30 miles per hour!