You would imagine that a hippo was a relative of perhaps a cow, or maybe a pig or even an elephant, but one of its closest living relatives is in fact the largest creature to have lived on this planet, the whale. Around 55 million years ago the hippo ancestor left the whale ancestor to start its own line which would eventually; around 16 million years ago become the modern hippopotamus.
They spend the hot African days in the cool rivers or mud holes as this is the only way to regulate body temperature, they leave the water at night to feed, covering over 5 kilometres on land to graze on vegetation. They consume about 70 kg of food before returning to the water.
Adult hippos cannot swim (you would think they would learn after 16million years in the water), instead they bounce up to get air as they walk along the river bed; they possess an ability to hold their breaths for about 5 minutes. The young are more buoyant and can swim by kicking their back legs.
At about 6 years the female hippo reaches maturity. When pregnant they give birth after 8 months to a 25 – 45 kg bouncing baby hippo underwater. The offspring then swim underwater to suckle its mother’s milk, in deeper water it will rest on its mothers back.
Hippopotamuses communicate with grunts and large roars which are very powerful if one were to bellow at the other side of a river you would be forgiven for thinking you stepped on its toe as it sounds so close. The vibrations from the grunts travel through the air and water to a form of echo location in the same fashion as a whale or dolphin.
Although very round and heavy weighing in at approximately 1.5 to 3 tonnes they are able to run at around 30km/h. None threatening in appearance they are one of Africa’s most dangerous animals causing a high proportion of human deaths compared with lions or crocks.
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