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The hippo is the biggest mammal that inhabits the River Nile although they mostly eat vegetation they are known to eat other things and are very dangerous . They are responsible for killing more humans in Africa than the crocodile. Despite their size and weight they are able to run up to 30mph and wouldn’t hesitate to charge at anything that threatens their habitat, they are not territorial on land but hold their water very dear to their hearts, you will discover why as you read on.

They are the third largest mammals in the world falling to the rhino and the elephant. Hippos are the only animal that can open their mouth 180 degrees and their powerful jaws could crush virtually anything you put in there. Hippos live in groups of 5-30 and are very protective of each other in the group when they have infants in the water the crocodiles know better not to come near the group.

Hippos leave the water once a day to graze at dusk when it is cooler for them. They use the water as a shield from the sun because they have no hair on their bodies to protect their bodies from the harsh African sun. They retreat to the same place they came from in the river, hippos will fight over water believe it or not. When the river dries up in places the hippo will travel to a place that there is water but what happens when it is dried up to, which happens every year before the rainy season comes.

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Hippos have to have water to cool their bodies down if not water then mud, they roll around in the mud to form a layer to protect their skin. Hippos will fight and if you ever saw this you will notice that they don’t go easy on each other, their huge teeth leave real deep cuts that are open to infection. I have seen a hippo die because it has been infected, just its body floating down the river to where the crocodiles tore it apart. Very little animals will eat a sick animal due to infection because of the fact that they could pick up these illnesses from it, the crocodile is one of these animals that can ingest such rotting flesh, the vulture is another.

A hippo because of its weight can walk along the bottom of the river and can hold their breath for 6 minutes young hippos can only stay submerged for about a minute, they can weigh up to three tons and grow to be 12 feet long and five feet tall. They have very thick skin and only have hair on their mouths and tails. They are very good at climbing despite their size they don’t climb trees I am talking about steep banks that line the river they have no problem scaling the banks if there is pasture land on top of it, their grazing could see them being up to five miles away from their place in the river.

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Hippos can live up to 50 years and the bull (the male) will stay the dominant male of the group he is usually the one who starts the fights when the water dries up, to become the dominant male they will have to fight usually this ends up a fight top the death if they don’t die there they will die due to infection from the huge gaping holes in their skin. Because their skin is so thick once it has a sever deep cut they usually don’t knit back. The dominant male can mate with all the females in the herd and always faces conflict before doing so.

Hippos usually submerge most of their bodies leaving their nostrils and ears above the water when escaping the sun, when they submerge completely their ears and nostrils close automatically. Male Hippos mature at the age of seven while females don’t usually mature until they are nine. Hippos have unexceptional sense of smell, hearing and phenomenal eye sight. The male hippos will attack the young in the water because they are threatened by the water they take up but amazingly they will not pay any attention to them for taking their food on land and often lets the young have the patch that they are grazing on. A baby hippo is able to digest grass after three weeks of being born but doesn’t stop taking milk from their mothers until after a year.

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