After they're weaned, calves remain with their mothers until fully grown, at about eight years of age. Hippos are so aquatic that females even give birth in the water! The babies, weighing 50 to 100 pounds, surface right after birth to take their first breath.įor the first year of their life, the youngsters nurse - either under water or on land, depending on where mom is when they get hungry. A hippo can eat up to 90 pounds of grass in one night! Water Babies They use their wide mouth like a lawnmower, grazing the grass down to a few inches from the ground over a large area. Hippos spend most of the night eating grass. They wander as much as three miles from the water in search of food. In the evenings, pods break up and the hippos leave the water, either singly or as females with their calves. Hippos spend most of their days in or near the water in groups called pods. So a hippo with its jaw submerged can hear sounds above and below water at the same time!Īnd one more way a hippo is adapted for life in the water: it can hold its breath for up to five minutes. But what about sounds below the water? That's a job for the hippo's jawbone, which conducts sound waves. If the whole head goes under, the ears swivel to shake out water when the hippo resurfaces. The ears sit high on the head, so the hippo can still hear what's going on above water when it's mostly underneath. When the hippo submerges, the nostrils close to keep out water. The nostrils are also located on top of the muzzle so the hippo can stay mostly under water and still breathe and sniff the air. Its eyes sit on top of the head, so the hippo can get most of its body under water and still see what's going on above water. The hippo's head is also well adapted for aquatic life. And its skin oozes a pink "slime" that protects the hippo from sunburn, both in and out of the water. Blubber makes the animal buoyant, so it can float. Despite their massive bulk, hippos can run faster than humans - up to 30 miles per hour! Made for WaterĪ hippo spends most of its life in the water, and its body is well-suited to a liquid lifestyle. Females are more "delicate," topping out around 3,000 pounds. Male hippos can weigh more than 6,000 pounds. Hippos are the second-largest land animal - second only to elephants. Rivers and lakes with surrounding grasslands
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