Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus, hippo for short, is a truly amazing animal. They have also been called “river horses”. They live in rivers in parts of Africa. They can weigh between 3000 and 4000 lbs. and eat up to 80 lbs. of grass every day. They have a barrel-shaped body and short thick legs. Their purplish-grey skin is almost 2 ½ inches thick. They have a huge mouth with molars for grinding and 2 tusk like teeth that can reach 20 inches long. They can open their mouths very wide. It looks like a super yawn! You don’t want to make a hippo mad. A hippo can crush you with his jaws and even turn over small boats. Because of their size and those menacing teeth, they are more fear in the rivers than crocodiles. 

Even though they spend most of their time in the rivers, they are poor swimmers. In fact they don’t swim; they usually walk on the bottom of the river. On land they can reach speeds of almost 19 miles an hour. Adult hippos can hold their breath under water for 5-6 minutes.

Did you know hippos can secret their own sunscreen? It looks like red sweat. I think that would come in handy in the hot African sun.

Scientists estimate that there are between 100-130,000 hippos in Africa. They have been killed in some states because there are wars happening there.

Here’s a couple fun hippopotamus videos for you.

 

    

I hope you liked our hippo talk!

Love Papaw.