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Top 42 Interesting Facts About Hippo You Must Know
The hippo is also called a hippopotamus or water horse. Hippopotamus is a Greek word meaning river horse. The skin of the hippo's body is about 2 inches thick and by the way, their skin is almost bulletproof.
But if a hippo is shot, it can penetrate its body where the skin on its body is thin. Hippos are scientifically known as Hippopotamus amphibius and are mostly called hippos.
It is an omnivorous mammal of sub-Saharan Africa and two types of hippos are found in the wild, the common hippo and the pygmy hippo. Hippos can live both in water and on land. Hippo or hippopotamus is a semi-aquatic mammal but it is unable to swim in water.
Hippos can move in water at a speed of 11 kilometers per hour and can hold their breath underwater for five minutes. Hippos release a substance from their skin that appears red when exposed to sunlight and is mostly called blood sweat.
Blood sweat acts as a moisturizer for these hippos which blocks out the harmful rays of the sun and prevents skin damage to the hippo's body. This chemical keeps the hippo's skin free from any germs. Let's know interesting facts about hippo
1. African hippos are semi-aquatic mammals and are native to sub-Saharan Africa. Hippos are hunted by humans due to their popularity for meat and horn. Predators such as hyenas, lions, tigers and cheetahs also eat hippos.
2. Hippos can be found roaming with their groups near water areas throughout Africa. Hippos can see while breathing even when submerged in water. Pygmy hippos are much smaller than common hippos.
3. When a specimen of this species was found, some scientists considered it to be a dwarf or juvenile common hippo. But in 1911, Schomburgk brought five specimens to Europe and the pygmy hippo was recognized as a separate species.
4. The common hippo lives with its own species in the wild while the pygmy hippo leads an isolated life apart from mating. A group of hippos is called a bloat, pod or siege consisting of 20-100 common hippos that live together.
5. This group includes both male and female hippos and mate during the breeding season. Pygmy hippos live solitary lives, avoiding conspecifics. When encountering each other in the wild, these hippos mostly ignore each other.
6. Each hippo defends its territory through feces markings. These hippos are social only during mating as well as while rearing their offspring.
7. The scientific name of hippo or hippopotamus is Hippopotamus amphibius. Hippos exhibit mostly nocturnal activity, being most active from noon to midnight.
8. They spend about 6 hours eating every day out of 24 hours. Spends daytime hours resting in water or on river banks. Pygmy hippos sleep on the ground and mostly in burrows.
9. Hippos are semi-aquatic animals that eat plants and leaves and do not have sweat glands and have thin outer skin that often gets injured while fighting. These animals keep themselves cool by immersing themselves in water and mud.
10. Hippos spend about two-thirds of their time in water. Hippos can be found burrowing in lakes and swamps to cool themselves in hot weather. Hippos can close their nose and ears to protect their nose and ears from water. Read- Top 31 Interesting Facts About Eurasian Eagle-Owl
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Top 11 To 20 Interesting Facts About Hippo
11. Common hippos are often found in groups of 20-100 while pygmy hippos prefer to live a solitary life. Hippos spend about 16 hours every day in water and are considered the third largest living land animal.
12. They are capable of holding their breath for five minutes under water. Hippos like to live in river water because they can sleep easily when they are half submerged in river water.
13. The common hippo lives with its group in swamps, lakes and wetlands and lives both in water and on land. Whereas pygmy hippos live mostly on the ground. Hippo is a freshwater animal.
14. Hippos spend 16 hours of their day in water, which keeps their skin moist and cool in Africa's hot summer. The habitat of the hippo in West Africa can be found in coastal and estuarine waters.
15. The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic in hippos and even a hippo that is sleeping underwater will automatically wake up and breathe without waking up.
16. Hippos are large-bodied mammals that spend most of their time resting and cooling themselves in water. Their torso resembles a barrel and their skin is almost hairless.
17. There is short hair near the mouth. They have a wide mouth with nostrils for breathing in water. They have short legs which help them in walking in water and on land. They also have teeth in both their jaws which are made like elephant teeth.
18. Hippos are extensively hunted by humans for their huge tusks as they are extremely valuable and are sold at good prices.
19. The weight of an adult male hippo ranges from 1500 to 1800 kg while the weight of a female hippo ranges from 1300 to 1500 kg. The body length of an average adult hippo can range between 10.5-16 feet.
20. The average body height of a hippo is 5.2 feet. The weight of a baby hippo at birth is between 40 kg to 50 kg. Read- Top 27 Interesting Facts About Martial Eagles With Pictures
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Top 21 To 30 Interesting Facts About Hippo
21. Hippos are omnivores in nature which means they can consume both plants and animals for their food. Their teeth are so strong that they can break even a crocodile or a human into two pieces.
22. Along with their powerful body, their teeth are used as a powerful weapon to ward off danger.
23. The diet of hippos consists mainly of short grasses, leaves, plants, shoots, tendons and roots but they also hunt buffalo and eat carcasses of other animals left by other carnivores.
24. Pygmy hippos in zoos are known to exhibit a monogamous mating system where each male has only one partner. Hippos living in the wild are considered polygamous because each male's territory overlaps with that of multiple females.
25. Some researchers suggest that pygmy hippos are polygamous with both males and females breeding with multiple mates. The male hippo forcibly immerses the female hippo in water and they have sexual intercourse in the water.
26. Females raise their heads to breathe only through their nostrils. Even though hippos are semi-aquatic in nature, they cannot swim but can mate in water. Sometimes hippos mate on the ground, which is very rare.
27. The gestation period in hippos lasts for 240 days and the female hippo gives birth to only one calf. A baby hippo is called a calf. They weigh only fifty kilos after birth and are mostly born underwater.
28. Their skin is pink at birth, which, like other hippos, gradually regains its normal color. The baby hippo stays with its mother until it reaches breeding age.
29. Female baby hippos develop and reach reproductive capacity at five years of age. While male baby hippos become sexually mature when they reach seven to eight years of age with their mother.
30. Hippo is a large African mammal. Sometimes it has violent and aggressive behavior but mostly it chews leaves and plants for food. The lifespan of a wild hippo is 40-50 years.
Top 31 To 42 Interesting Facts About Hippo
31. A hippo can die due to many other reasons like loss of habitat, unavailability of food, water pollution, hunting and poaching by humans due to these reasons the population of hippo is decreasing.
32. Despite their heavy bodies, hippos can run at a very high speed of 51 kilometers per hour. Despite being semi-aquatic, they are poor swimmers. They are large with short legs which helps them maintain their balance on the ground.
33. It can move in water very slowly at a distance of 11 kilometers per hour. Hippos can also be attacked by crocodiles but a hippo can easily fight off a crocodile.
34. The crocodile can even kill with its powerful body. Humans cannot outrun a hippo because they have a history of attacking humans.
35. Hippos communicate with their body language and different sounds like moaning, growling, growling and making loud noises on land as well as in water. They are very loud and noisy.
36. Other sounds such as wheezing, grunting, roaring can also send different signals to other hippos. Studies also show that hippos also laugh. Male adult hippos also threaten calves and other potential hippos to maintain their dominance over the group.
37. According to the IUCN Red List the pygmy hippo population numbers approximately 2,000–2,499 mature hippos. According to the Pygmy Hippo Foundation resources, the total population of this species in the wild is about 2,000 hippos, most of which live in Liberia and the rest in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast.
38. Hippo populations in the wild are rapidly declining and their status is currently listed as vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN Red List. Hippos are now restricted to protected areas where they are not hunted by hunters as well as humans for their horns, meat and teeth.
39. Pygmy hippos are currently classified as endangered and their numbers are decreasing. While the common hippo is listed as vulnerable. If the population of these mammals continues to decline in the future, they will soon become extinct.
40. Hippos can be dangerous if provoked by humans. They are excellent runners and can kill a human if they try to escape from an angry and irritated hippo. Hippos have an aggressive temperament and often get into fights with other hippos.
41. Male hippos pose very dangerously and have the ability to hunt humans as well as crocodiles. Given their population size, hippos should not be kept as pets.
42. It is illegal to keep hippos as pets and they can only be found in protected areas. Hippos do not make good pets because they are very noisy and require long periods of immersion in water to cool their body temperature.
Hippo Facts For Kids
1. What does hippopotamus mean?
The hippo is also called a hippopotamus or water horse. Hippopotamus is a Greek word meaning river horse.
2. Where are hippos found?
African hippos are semi-aquatic mammals and are native to sub-Saharan Africa. Hippos are hunted by humans due to their popularity for meat and horn. Predators such as hyenas, lions, tigers and cheetahs also eat hippos.
3. Why are hippos so aggressive?
Hippopotamuses are mostly aggressive as they defend their territory both in and out of water. They attack boats and capsize them. They do not like humans to come between them and the water.
4. Who hunts hippopotamus?
Hippos are preyed upon by Nile crocodiles, lions, and spotted hyenas. Apart from these, a large hippo is not preyed upon by other animals due to their aggressiveness and size and there have been cases in which large groups of lions have successfully hunted large hippos.
5. Which is the largest hippo in the world?
The largest hippopotamus ever recorded in the world was Murabarak, a male hippopotamus that lived in Niger at the turn of the 20th century and weighed approximately 4,500 kilograms.
6. What are hippopotamuses like?
Hippos are social animals and they form herds and in one herd there can be 30 to 40 male and female hippos.
7. Why is the sweat of a hippopotamus pink?
Hippos release a substance from their skin that appears red when exposed to sunlight and is mostly called blood sweat.
8. How much water do hippos drink in a day?
The hippopotamus eats grass and drinks about 212 liters of water a day and the hippopotamus will graze for 4 to 5 hours at night.
9. Which was the largest species of hippopotamus?
Hippopotamus gorgops was the largest member of the family Hippopotamidae ever known. Which was known as Hippopotamus Gorgops. Hippopotamus Gorgops is an extinct species of hippo that lived on Earth a few million years ago.
10. Why are hippos most active at night?
Hippos are most active at night as they search for food. Hippopotamuses are herbivorous animals and prefer to eat mostly grass.