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Although hippos can’t breathe underwater, they can hold their breath for up to five minutes. Hippos exhibit strong social bonds and typically live in groups with anywhere from 40 to 200 hippos, known as bloats, pods, or herds. They are territorial creatures and use their dung to mark their territory.
- Size
- Habitat and Behavior
- Hungry, Hungry Hippos
- Baby Hippos
- Attacks on Humans
- Conservation Status
- Invasive Hippos
- Additional Resources and Readings
- Bibliography
Common hippos, also known as river hippos, are very rotund animals and are the third largest living land mammals, after elephants and white rhinos, according to the African Wildlife Foundation. They grow to between 10.8 and 16.5 feet (3.3 and 5 meters) long and up to 5.2 feet (1.6 m) tall at the shoulder. The average female weighs around 3,000 lbs....
Common hippos live in sub-Saharan Africa. They live in areas with abundant water, as they spend most of their time submerged to keep their skin cool and moist. Considered amphibious animals, hippos spend up to 16 hours per day in the water, according to National Geographic. Hippos are social beasts, hanging out in groups called schools, bloats, pod...
Hippos have a healthy and mostly herbivorous appetite. Adults eat about 80 lbs. (35 kg) of grass each night, traveling up to 6 miles (10 km) in a night to get their fill. They also eat fruit that they find during their nightly scavenging, according to National Geographic. If food is scarce, hippos can store food in their stomachs and go up to three...
Female hippos have a gestation period of eight months and have only one baby at a time, according to the San Diego Zoo. At birth, the calf weighs between 50 and 110 lbs. (23 and 50 kg). For its first eight months, the calf nurses while its mother is on land, or it swims underwater to suckle. When it dives, the calf closes its nose and ears to block...
The hippopotamus is considered the world's deadliest large land mammal. These semiaquatic giants kill an estimated 500 people per year in Africa, according to the BBC. Hippos are highly aggressive and are well-equipped to deliver considerable damage to anything that wanders into their territory. For example, in 2014, a hippo attacked a small, unsus...
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN), the common hippo isn't endangered, but it is vulnerable to extinction. The IUCN estimates that between 115,000 and 130,000 common hippos remain in the wild. Poaching and habitat loss reduced the hippo's global numbers during the late 1990s and early 2000s, but the population has...
Notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar famously kept hippos, giraffes, elephants and other exotic animals on his estate in northwestern Colombia. When Escobar was killed in 1993, the Colombian government seized all of his assets, including his menagerie. Most of his animals were transferred to zoos and aquariums, but his four hippos were left to fend fo...
Did you know hippos are covered in mucus? Learn more with SciShow Kids.Learn about the "The 'Beauty' Regime of Hippos" with BBC Earth.Check out the book Saving Fiona: The Story of the World's Most Famous Baby Hippo.AFP. (2014, November 19). Thirteen people, including 12 children, killed in Hippopotamus attack. ABC News. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/hippopotamus-attack-kills-13-in-boat-in-niger/5904646 African Wildlife Foundation. (n.d.). Hippopotamus. African Wildlife Foundation. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from http...
Just before night begins, they leave the water to forage on land. A hippo will travel 3–5 km (1.9–3.1 mi) per night, eating around 40 kg (88 lb) of grass. By dawn, they are back in the water. [36] Despite being semiaquatic, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer, nor can it float.
Learn more about hippopotamus or hippos as they are more commonly known, including how much they weight, how fast they can run on land and where to see in the wild – and stay safe from an attack.
Jul 9, 2020 · The median life expectancy of hippos is 36 years. Hippos can live up to 40 years in the wild. Threats: Habitat loss and the illegal ivory trade are among the largest threats to hippos.
Aug 16, 2017 · In Zambia, some people were so hungry that they risked their health to eat hippo meat infected with anthrax. Researchers say it reveals how food insecurity can spread disease.
Sep 25, 2023 · Many around the world eat wild animals for food. Hunting is practiced throughout the world, but hunting practices, particularly in equatorial Africa and parts of Asia, are believed to threaten several species with extinction. Traditionally, wild meat in Africa was hunted to feed families directly.
