26 Amazing Facts About Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus is a huge and bulky animal. It has evolved in Africa and can also be seen in other parts of the world. They are amphibians in nature, which means they can live in water and as well as land. Hippopotamus is generally a calm animal that moves slowly from one location to another, but it can become aggressive at times.

1. When a hippopotamus stays out of water for too long, it secretes red-colored sweat, which helps them to protect itself from the sun.
2. Unlike most other semiaquatic animals, hippos have very little hair on their skin. Their skin is 6.1 cm (2.4 inches) thick, which provides great protection against conspecifics and predators.
3. Hippopotamus means ‘river horse‘ and, although clumsy and ungainly on land, these animals are extremely agile in the water.
4. The hippos can remain underwater for five minutes. Then they have to come out for breathing in air.
5. Hippos can live up to 40-50 years in the wild. Whereas in captivity, they can live for about 60 years.
6. The oldest known hippo to have lived on the planet was named Donna, who lived in the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville and died at the age of 61 in 2012.
7. The closes friends of the hippos are cetaceans ( aquatic animals) such as whales and dolphins.
8. The closest relation of hippos are surprisingly cetaceans such as dolphins and whales.
9. They can open their mouth about 150 degrees wide, which means they can create an opening of 3-4 feet, and a child up to 4 ft can easily fit into its mouth.
10. The hippopotamus can easily split a human into two pieces as they have a whooping biting force of 2,000 pounds per square inch. It stands at no five in terms of biting force in the whole animal kingdom.
11. As they have such a massive mouth, their teeth are also big. They have huge incisors and canines, the incisors can be 1.4ft long, and canines can be 1.8 ft long, respectively.
12. They are highly aggressive, mainly when they are threatened.
13. Hippo’s like to spend a lot of their time in water such as rivers, lakes, and swamps.
14. The hippopotamus is counted as the deadliest animal in the entire Africa continent.
15. Hippos can drink as much as 250 liters of water each day.
16. To feed themselves, they may travel distances of up to 10 km.
17. In one night, an adult hippopotamus can eat approximately 150 pounds (68 kg) of grass
18. An adult hippo can produce 60 pounds (27kg) of poop every day.
19. They are considered the third largest living mammal on the planet, just after elephants and white rhino.
20. Female hippos are often called “cows.” Whereas male hippos are known as “bulls.”
21. The gestation (pregnancy) period of hippos may last up to eight months.
22. They reach the age of sexual maturity at the age of five to six years. Their puberty starts at the beginning of three to four years of age.
23. In a fight between hippo and rhino, the hippo will clearly win.
24. A hippos group is often called a crash, bloat, herd, pod, or dale.
25. Despite having so heavy body and the world’s second-largest land animal, they can run at 30 miles per hour(48.2 kph) which is faster than the most remarkable human runner bolt.
26. Hippos most likely evolved from a group of anthracotheres about 15 million years ago.