Hippopotamus

(Hippopotamus amphibius)

by Tiffany W.

A HIPPOPOTAMUS! 

This picture is from here.

What do Hippopotamuses look like?

Hippopotamus have big mouths and teeth, almost hairless bodies, barrel-shaped torsos, and small legs. They have webbed toes, which helps them paddle through water. A hippopotamus is about 12-15 feet and weighs about 5,000-8,000 pounds!

Binomial Nomenclature (Scientific Name)

Hippopotamus amphibius

• Comes from Greek words that mean Water Horse

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Superorder: Cetartiodactyla

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Hippopotamidae

Genus: Hippoptamus  

Where do hippos live?

They live in rivers and lakes in central and southern Africa.

They also live in zoos. 

What do hippos eat?

Hippos are herbivores and their diet consists mainly of grass and some water plants. Hippos eat mostly eating during the night, and during the day, hippos spend most of their time basking in the sun on a sandbar or floating lazily in the water with just their ears, eyes, and nostrils, and maybe their back and top of the head, exposed.  

Hippos lead fairly motionless lives that do not require a lot of energy. Therefore, they have nearly modest appetites.

Baby Hippos? What about them?

Female hippos can have babies at about 7 years old. Baby hippos are born underwater. They can swim pretty much after the moment they're born. They are called calves. They usually nurse underwater. Lions, crocidiles, lepords, hyenas, and wild dogs usually kill baby hippos, but not adult hippos.

Just Facts

• A shorter name for a hippopotamus is a hippo... 
• They are threatened by habitat loss and poaching (hunting) for their meat and ivory canine teeth. 
• Hippos like swimming.
• Hippos are the third largest land mammal (weight) after the white rhino and the elephant.
• A hippo can outrun you. Even though they are big, they can outrun a person.
• It is thought to be the most ferocious animal in Africa.
• One of the most agressive animals in the world.
• Hippos can hold their breath up for up to five minutes.
• Hippos can walk along the bottoms of rivers and lakes.
• People used to think that hippos sweat blood. Hippos' sweat has an oily red pigment in it. Not blood.
• Hippos can live to be more than 40 years old in the wild.

All of these facts are...

from here!

& here! 

& this website!

[This above website is an insurance website, so if you don't want to click the link, DON'T CLICK IT! I don't know why it had hippo facts on it.] 

(: Hippopotamus Video from this website! 

This picture shows a mother hippo and her baby. 

I got this picture from this website.

[This website has more pictures and a video of this baby hippo with its mother!]

 A picture of two hippopotamuses from here!

For more pictures, click this link.

Websites I used to get my Information, Pictures & Videos;

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus>

<http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/CreatureFeature/Hippopotamus>

<http://www.quotehippo.com/hippos_eat.html>

<http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2008/12/big-baby-hippo-at-the-berlin-zoo.html>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDpRaUfGJDw>

<http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/resources/christopher_jameson/hippopotamus_amphibius_5.jpg/view.html> 

Hippos are pretty beautiful.

please do not steal my page. thank you very much. (:

if you do steal my page, you'll get into very big trouble!