HIPPOPOTAMUS

This is the another large land mammal after elephants and white rhinos they are mostly found  at sub -Saharan  Africa living in rivers ,lakes and swamps because they  prefer areas with  shallow water where they can inundate their  massive bodies  which  help to keep them cool during the day since there skin is thick.

 

The hippopotamus is the large land mammals of which adult male weight is between 1500 to 1800kg and female being between slightly smaller they can reach length of about 4 to 5 meters from head to tail. when it comes to appearance hippos have a barrel-bulky bodies short legs and a massive head their skin is thick and grayish to muddy – brown on the outside with pinkish underside also have a large  mouth hippos have different kind of behaviors like they are known of to spend a lot of time inundate in water to keep their bodies cool and to protect their sensitive skin from the sun if which they can stay under water for up to 5 minute before coming up for air.

Hippos communicate through grunt snorts and barks they also have to use their mouth for display of aggression often showing their large teeth as a warning  despite of their appearance and size  hippos can run surprisingly fast on land to reach  the speed of up to 30km/h  A common misjudgment is that hippos are slow and compliant but they are actually known to be very combative especially when they feel threatened.

Funny fact is that did you know hippos produce reddish  secretion which is also known as blood sweat which act as a natural sunscreen and has antibacterial properties protecting them from the sun and infection