Hippos By: Tamika Galvan Many or most people have not seen a hippo up close. What are they like?

Description A hippo that lives in Africa. They have heavy round bodies. They have four toes on each foot, and they have thick skin. They have small eyes and small hairy ears. They are10.8 to 16.5 feet long. They are up to 5.2 feet tall. The male weighs up to 9/9200 pounds, and the female weighs around 3,000 lbs. They have short legs. They have a short tail. A hippo can open it’s mouth 5 feet wide.

Habitat Hippos live in sub- Saharan Africa. A hippo lives in the water for 16 hours a day. They live near rivers and lakes. They live near grass land. Most hippos live near Zambia, Africa. They come to shore at night time to eat.

Diet A hippo is an herbivore or a plant eater. They eat grass and reeds. They eat up to 200 pounds of grass a night. A hippo leaves the water and goes to shore. They go to eat when the sun goes down. They do not eat meat. A hippo eats sausage fruit. A sausage fruit is poisonous to humans.

Survival A hippo is in danger because of man and crocodiles. A hippo needs food to survive, and they need something to drink and eat. A mother hippo keeps her babies safe from bulls, male hippos that fight. A mother hippo keeps her babies away from crocodiles by keeping them on her back. Hippos dung is used to mark territory and used on land as a marker.

Other Facts Bull hippos fight and sometimes they kill each other. Hippos are great paddlers. There is a small type of hippo called pigmy.

Conclusion Hippos are different from each other.

Bibliography Marie Greenwood, Amazing Giant Wild Animals, Patricia Kendell, Hippos In the Wild, Kelly Doudna, It’s a Baby Hippopotamus!, Mary Hoffman, Animals in the Wild, Hippo, 1985.