Common Hippopotamus

• Despite its semi-aquatic life it can neither swim nor float in the ordinary sense; it gets about by walking along the bottom.
• It can hold its breath for 90 seconds shortly after being born.
• It eats up to 40 kg of grass a night on land.
• fisiologíaIts skin secretes an oily reddish fluid that works as a natural sunscreen and antibiotic, popularly and wrongly called 'blood sweat'.
• locomociónAlthough it spends much of its time in the water, it cannot properly swim or float: it moves by pushing off the riverbed or walking along it.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)

Habitat & environment

Freshwater rivers, lakes and wetlands of sub-Saharan Africa; it spends the day in the water and feeds on land at night

Birth weight

22 - 55 kg (some sources give up to ~45 kg / 100 lb)

Size at birth

Can be born in water or on land; able to hold its breath for 90 seconds shortly after birth

Sexual maturity

Female: 5-10 years (some sources give up to 10 as the average age at first birth) | Male: 7.5 years

Gestation / incubation

8 months (~234 days)

Litter / clutch size

1 calf; ~2 years between births

Lifespan in captivity

Documented record of 61.2 years in captivity

Sources consulted: AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); Animal Diversity Web; A-Z Animals; National Geographic; JungleDragon; IGB Berlin

Best time: All year round in African rivers and lakes; by day it stays submerged in groups and at dusk it comes out to graze on land.