hippopotamus

—hippopotamic /hip'euh peuh tam"ik/, hippopotamian /hip'euh peuh tay"mee euhn/, adj.

/hip'euh pot"euh meuhs/, n., pl. hippopotamuses, hippopotami /-muy'/.

a large herbivorous mammal, Hippopotamus amphibius, having a thick hairless body, short legs, and a large head and muzzle, found in and near the rivers, lakes, etc., of Africa, and able to remain under water for a considerable time.

[1555-65; < L < Gk hippopótamos, earlier híppos potámios lit., riverine horse (term used by Herodotus in his account of the Egyptian hippopotamus); cf. ME ypotame, ypotamos, ypotanus < OF ypotame < ML ypotamus]

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Huge amphibious African mammal (Hippopotamus amphibius).

Once found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, it is now restricted to parts of eastern and southeastern Africa. It has a barrel-shaped body, an enormous mouth, short legs, and four toes on each foot. It commonly reaches a length of 11.5 ft (3.5 m), a height of 5 ft (1.5 m) at the shoulder, and a weight of 7,000 lb (3,200 kg). The skin is very thick, nearly hairless, and grayish brown above, lighter and pinkish below. The ears and nostrils protrude above water when the rest of the body is submerged. Hippopotamuses live near rivers, lakes, swamps, or other permanent bodies of water, usually in groups of 7 to 15. During the day they sleep and rest in or near the water. At night they go on land to feed on grasses, which they crop with their hard-edged lips. In water they can swim fast, walk along the bottom, and remain submerged (with ears and nostrils closed) for five minutes or more. The rare pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis) is the only other species of the family Hippopotamidae. Living along streams and in wet forests and swamps of West Africa, it is about the size of a domestic pig.

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▪ mammal species

      amphibious African ungulate mammal, the second largest land animal (after the elephant).

      Hippopotamus is Greek for “river horse,” and the animal has been known since ancient times. Hippopotamuses are often seen basking on the banks or sleeping in the waters of rivers, lakes, and swamps next to grasslands. Because of their great size and aquatic habits, they are safe from most predators but man, who has long valued their hide, meat, and ivory and at times has resented them for ruining crops. Once ranging over the entire continent and beyond, hippos now live in eastern, central, and parts of southern Africa.

      The hippopotamus has a bulky body on stumpy legs, an enormous head, a short tail, and four toes on each foot. Each toe has a nail-like hoof. Males are usually 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) long, stand 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall, and weigh 3,200 kg (3.5 tons). The skin is 5 cm (2 inches) thick on the flanks but thinner elsewhere and nearly hairless. Colour is grayish brown, with pinkish underparts. The mouth is half a metre wide and can gape 150° to show the teeth. The lower canines are sharp and may exceed 30 cm (12 inches) long.

 Hippos are well adapted to aquatic life. The ears, eyes, and nostrils are located high on the head so that the rest of the body may remain submerged. The ears and nostrils can be folded shut to keep out water. The body is so dense that they can walk underwater, where they can hold their breath for five minutes. Although often seen basking in the sun, hippos lose water rapidly through the skin and become dehydrated without periodic dips. They must also retreat to the water to keep cool, for they do not sweat. Numerous skin glands release a pinkish “lotion,” which led to the ancient myth that hippos sweat blood; this pigment actually acts as a sunblock, filtering out ultraviolet radiation.

      Hippos favour shallow areas where they can sleep half submerged (“rafting”). Their populations are limited by this “day living space,” which may become quite crowded—as many as 150 hippos may use one pool in the dry season. In times of drought or famine, they may embark on overland migrations that often result in many deaths. By night, hippos walk along familiar paths as far as 10 km (6 miles) into surrounding grasslands to feed for five or six hours. The long canines and incisors are used strictly as weapons; grazing is accomplished by grasping grass with the tough, wide lips and jerking the head. Near the river, where grazing and trampling are heaviest, large areas may be denuded of all grass, which results in erosion. Hippos, however, eat relatively little vegetation for their size (about 35 kg [80 pounds] per night), as their energy requirement is low because they are buoyed in warm water much of the time. Hippos do not chew cud but retain food for a long time in the stomach, where protein is extracted by fermentation digestion. Their digestive process is responsible for cycling tremendous quantities of nutrients into the African rivers and lakes and thereby supporting the fish that are so crucial as a protein source in the diet of the local people.

      Females (cows) mature as early as 3 years of age in zoos, but maturity in the wild may not take place until past age 13. A single calf weighing about 45 kg (99 pounds) is born after a gestation of eight months. The calf can close its ears and nostrils to nurse underwater; it may climb onto its mother's back out of water to rest. It begins to eat grass by one month and is weaned at six to eight months of age. Cows produce a calf every two years. Young calves are vulnerable to crocodiles, lions, and hyenas. It is thought that attacks on small boats are antipredator behaviour, with the hippos mistaking them for crocodiles. As a result, hippos have long had a largely undeserved reputation as aggressive animals. Cows live in “schools,” but they are not permanently associated with other cows, though sometimes they maintain bonds with offspring for some years. Longevity is up to 49 years in captivity but rarely more than 40 in the wild.

      Males mature at about 8 years of age, but dominant bulls more than 20 years old do most of the mating. Bulls monopolize areas in the river as “mating territories (territorial behaviour)” for 12 years or more. Subordinate males are tolerated if they do not attempt to breed. Cows aggregate in these areas during the dry season, which is when most mating takes place. Rare battles may erupt when strange bulls invade territories in the mating season. Most aggression is noise, splash, bluff charges, and a yawning display of the teeth, but opponents may engage in combat by slashing upward at each other's flanks with the lower incisors. Wounds can be fatal despite the thick skin there. Adjacent territorial bulls will stare at each other, then turn and, with rear end out of the water, flip feces and urine in a wide arc by rapidly wagging the tail. This routine display indicates that the territory is occupied. Territorial and subordinate males alike make dung piles along pathways leading inland, which probably function as olfactory signposts at night. Hippos recognize individuals by scent and sometimes follow one another nose to tail on night treks.

      Trampling and crop raiding by hippos led to early and determined efforts to exterminate them; their hides and meat were also valued. Hippos were extinct in northern Africa by 1800 and south of Natal and the Transvaal by 1900. They are still fairly common in East Africa, but the Lake Chad (Chad, Lake) race in west-central Africa is vulnerable. Populations continue to decrease continentwide. There remains a demand for hippo teeth as a fine-grained “ ivory” that is easy to carve; it was once used to make false teeth.

      The rare pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis), the other living species of the family Hippopotamidae, is about the size of a domestic pig. The pygmy hippo is less aquatic than its larger relative, although when pursued it hides in water. Less gregarious, it is seen alone or with one or two others in the lowland tropical forests of Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, along streams and in wet forests and swamps. Liberians call it a “water cow.” It eats some grasses and also fresh leaves of trees and bushes, herbs, and fallen fruits. The Niger delta subspecies is critically endangered (endangered species).

      Hippopotamidae is related to pigs (family Suidae (suid)) and peccaries (peccary) (family Tayassuidae). These groups diverged from other members of the order Artiodactyla (artiodactyl) about 45 million years ago, but molecular studies suggest that hippos and cetaceans (cetacean) (whales and dolphins) have an earlier common ancestor and may be more closely related. A fossil resembling today's pygmy hippo dates to the Early Miocene Epoch (23.8 million to 16.4 million years ago). Hippos eventually reached Europe and Asia, though climate changes and overhunting by humans exterminated all species outside Africa by the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago). Three species lived on Madagascar until recent times; their extinction may have coincided with the arrival of humans about 1,000 years ago.

Lory Herbison & George W. Frame

Additional Reading

S.K. Eltringham, The Hippos: Natural History and Conservation (1999), synthesizes more than four decades of research in Africa into a coherent portrait of hippopotamus behaviour, ecology, and management concerns. Richard Despard Estes, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals (1991), provides a useful summary of behaviour and ecology. Norman Myers, The Long African Day (1972), features hippos in this classic work, which celebrates African wildlife.

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