FORMER EXCEPTIONAL CHILD [sleeping hippo] (front), center Logo (back), black and white text. Digital Direct print.
Hippopotamus
Hippos inhabit rivers, lakes, and mangrove swamps. Territorial bulls each preside over a stretch of water and a group of five to thirty cows and calves. Mating and birth both occur in the water. During the day, hippos remain cool by staying in water or mud, emerging at dusk to graze on grasses. While hippos rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos typically do not display territorial behaviour on land. Hippos are among the most dangerous animals in the world due to their aggressive and unpredictable nature. They are threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory (canine teeth)
Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives, while females reach maximum weight at around age 25
Though chubby-looking, hippos have little fat.
Despite being semiaquatic, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer, nor can it float
Hippos spend most the day in water to stay cool and hydrated. Just before night begins, they leave the water to forage on land. Hippos usually trot to move quickly on land and can gallop at 30 km/h (19 mph) when nee
Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land across which they walk, keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods, hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.
It is challenging to study the interaction of bulls and cows because hippos are not sexually dimorphic, so cows and young bulls are almost indistinguishable in the field.[75] Hippo pods fluctuate but can contain over 100 hippos. Although they lie close together, adults develop almost no social bonds
Males establish territories in water but not land,
The bull has breeding access to all the cows in his territory. Younger bachelors are allowed to stay as long as they defer to him. A younger male may challenge the old bull for control of the territory. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by sex and status. Bachelor males lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the territorial male is on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.
Mother hippos are very protective of their young, not allowing others to get too close.[37] One cow was recorded protecting a calf’s carcass after it had died.[82] Calves may be temporarily kept in nurseries, guarded by one or more adults, and will play amongst themselves
Hippopotamus – Wikipedia
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