Hippopotamus

(Hippopotamus amphibius)

Contents

*Size and lifetime

*Food and eating habits

*Their living area

*Breeding

*Predators

*Pictures

Size and Lifetime *3.96-4.57 meters

long

*1.52 meters high at the shoulder

*It weighs 1,800-3,600 kg

* lifetime 20-40 years; 50 years in captivity

Food and eating habits*Hippopotamus is herbivorous

*They come out of the water at night to graze and can eat up to 60 kilograms of vegetation in one night.

*Hippopotamuses will often travel up to six miles from their watering hole to find something to eat.

Living area

*They are living in Southern Africa and near Nilus.

*The total population of the common hippo in the whole of Africa is about 157,000 animals.

*Hippos are decreasing in 18 African countries and are stable in only six. In only two countries, Congo and Zambia, are hippo numbers increasing.

Breeding

*The baby is born after a gestation period of 210 - 255 days

*A baby is 1m long, 0.5m at the shoulder and weighs 27kg.

*5 minutes after its birth, the baby can walk, run or swim.

*The baby is born after a gestation period of 210 - 255 days

*A baby is 1m long, 0.5m at the shoulder and weighs 27kg.

*5 minutes after its birth, the baby can walk, run or swim.

breeding

Predators

*Hippo’s calves are in danger from lions, hyenas, and crocodiles.

*The adult hippopotamus is usually too big for most predators to handle.

Pictures