What Do You Know About the Hippopotamus?
Hippos are immense creatures, but where do they fall on the scale of Earth's largest land mammals?
- Hippos are right behind elephants as the largest land mammals and are comparable to the size of white and Indian rhinoceroses.
How big is the smallest species of hippotamids, the pygmy hippo?
- Though people often think of the larger hippo species first, the other type is much smaller— and adorable.
Approximately how long can hippos hold their breath when underwater?
- As they plod across the bottom of rivers and lakes, hippos need large lung capacities.
What is the hippo's nickname?
- Because they walk on riverbeds and methodically cross the muddy bottoms of lakes, people like to call these large animals "river horses".
What is the primary source of nutrients and sustenance for hippos?
- Hippos are herbivores, so they graze on water plants and the grass on surrounding banks to keep them full.
How long do hippos live in the wild?
- Hippos are rather long-lived animals in the wild, and in captivity, they can live for up to 50 years.
How long can hippo tusks grow?
- Hippos have the longest teeth of all land mammals with their large tusks, and even their front teeth can reach 1.2 feet in length.
How wide can a hippo's mouth open?
- Their mouths are essentially giant hinges that can open nearly all the way when yawning or reacting to a threat.
Hippos secrete a red, oily substance from their sweat glands to be used as which of the following?
- Hippos have adapted to the dangerous African sunshine's UV levels by producing their own sunscreen as sweat.
At what time are hippos most active?
- Hippos like to forage for food during the night when it's cooler and spend the daytime hours resting in water under the hot sub-Saharan sun.
