Hippopotamus

Recent Examples on the Web The urban legend is that the song was recorded as a fundraiser to get a hippopotamus at a local zoo, but apparently that's not the reality. — Abigail Rosenthal, Chron, 1 Dec. 2021 The jackal is associated with Anubis, god of death; the falcon with Horus, god of the sky; the hippopotamus with Taweret, goddess of fertility. — Nathaniel J. Dominy, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2021 In 1996, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, then president of the university, bought a bronze rendition of a hippopotamus at an antique store and gave it to the class of 2000. — Nick Anderson, Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2023 The late cocaine baron illegally imported four hippopotamuses from Africa to Colombia in the 1980s. — Chloe Taylor, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2023 The animal has been an unofficial mascot since 1996, when a statue of a hippopotamus was given as a gift to the class of 2000 by Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, the university president at the time. — April Rubin, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Mar. 2023 The animals are descendants of four African hippopotamuses illegally imported by the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. — Jason Hahn, Peoplemag, 3 Mar. 2023 Colombia wants to move about 70 hippopotamuses that live near Pablo Escobar's former ranch to two other countries as part of a plan to control their booming population. — Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 3 Mar. 2023 The Colombian government wants to export about 60 invasive hippopotamuses that have escaped the former ranch of dr...

It was just before the arrival of the rains in the South African Lowveld, when the heat seems relentless. We had come across a solitary bull hippopotamus, squeezed into a tiny patch of remaining mud, the skin on his back cracked and dry. I parked the safari vehicle at a comfortable distance, observing his body language for any signs of upset, as hippos are understandably grumpy at the height of the dry season. But he could have been dead for all the movement he showed – only the slight twitches of his ears gave him away as he snoozed. We sat for a while, contemplating the harshness of nature before I did something unfortunate. It was blazing hot, and there was not a single patch of shade. And so, I pulled out a spray-on sunscreen. Without thinking, I depressed the nozzle, and all hell broke loose… With a sound akin to the unblocking of the world’s largest toilet, the bull extracted himself from the mud wallow and launched himself at us, mouth agape and enormous tusks front and centre. In the time it took me to start the car and throw it into reverse, he had covered the significant distance between us and was almost level with my door. I had a brief but unfortunate view of the back of his throat before I hurtled backwards up a steep slope. The bull pulled up short and shot me a rightfully affronted look. I suspect, had he been able to talk, he would have muttered some very unflattering words. To say I was decidedly rattled, deeply regretful and suitably chastened would be a...

Appearance Hippos are recognizable for their barrel-shaped torsos, wide-opening mouths with large canine tusks, nearly hairless bodies, pillar-like legs, and large size. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of their skulls. This allows these organs to remain above the surface while the rest of the body is submerged. The hippo's jaw is powered by huge masseter and digastric muscles which give them large, droopy cheeks. The jaw hinge allows the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°. The canines and incisors are used mainly for combat instead of feeding. Hippos rely on their flattened, horny lips to grasp and pull grasses which are then ground by the molars. Hippo skin is 6 cm (2 in) thick across much of its body with little hair. The animal is mostly purplish-grey or blue-black, but brownish-pink on the underside and around the eyes and ears. Their skin secretes a natural, red-colored sunscreen substance that is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat" but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. This natural sunscreen cannot prevent the animal's skin from cracking if it stays out of water too long. The original range of this species used to cover sub-Saharan Africa. The small current range of Common Hippos includes East African countries such as Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique. As semiaquatic creatures, they prefer living in shallow water bodies such as la...