What is Hippopotomus?

Answer 1

Hippopotamuses (hippopotami is also accepted as a plural form by the OED), also sometimes called hippos, are gregarious, living in groups of up to 40 animals, called a pod, herd, school or bloat. A male hippopotamus is known as bull, a female as cow, and a baby as calf. A hippo's lifespan is typically 40 to 50 years. Female hippos will reach sexual maturity at 5 to 6 years, and have a gestation period of 8 months.

Hippos average 3.5 meters (11 ft) long, 1.5 m (5 ft) tall at the shoulder, and weigh from 1500 kg to 3200 kg (3,300 to 7,000 lb). They are approximately the same size as the White Rhinoceros, and experts are split on which is the next largest land animal after the elephant. Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives, whereas the females reach a maximum weight at around the age of 25. Females are smaller than their male counterparts, and normally weigh no more than 1500 kg. The value given above of 3200 kg is often quoted as being the upper limit of weight for a male hippo. However, larger specimens than this have been documented, including one which weighed about 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) and measured about 16 feet (5 m) long. Their skin weighs a ton, it is 4cm thick, bullet-proof and accounts for 25% of their weight. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. There are estimates of their running speed varying from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher estimates for only a few hundred metres or yards.


A hippopotamus' teeth are used for eating and for defenseThe eyes, ears, and nostrils of the hippo are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to spend most of the day with the majority of their body submerged in the waters of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Indeed apart from whales and dolphins, hippos are the only other mammal that gives birth under water. For additional protection from the sun, their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. This secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but it is not actually blood, nor sweat. This secretion starts out colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown.

There are two distinct pigments that have been identified in the secretions, red and orange. The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. They are known as red pigment hipposudoric acid and orange one norhipposudoric acid. The red pigment was found to inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria, lending credence to the theory that the secretion has an antibiotic effect. The light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. Hippos all over the world secrete the pigments so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. (Saikawa, et al., 2004)

As indicated by the name, ancient Greeks considered the hippopotamus to be related to the horse. Until 1985, naturalists grouped hippos with pigs, based on molar patterns. However evidence, first from blood proteins, then from molecular systematics, and more recently from the fossil record, show that their closest living relatives are cetaceans – whales, porpoises and the like .[1] Hippopotami have more in common with whales than they do with other artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates), such as pigs. Thus, the common ancestor of hippos and whales existed after the branch-off from ruminants, which occurred after the divergence from the rest of the even-toed ungulates, including pigs. While the whale and hippo are each other's closest living relatives, their lineages split very soon after their divergence from the rest of the even-toed ungulates

Answer 2

HEY! as this is a mathermathics site .. did you mean hypotanuse perhaps ~~~~~~~~~~

Math Forums @ Math Goodies
to get the ball rolling I'm about to fabricate a helical staircase and I'd like ... the helix ( which would be the hypotanuse and we'll label that side c instead ...)mathgoodies.com/forums/post.asp?...&TOPIC_ID=31512&FORUM_ID=13

What does the hypotanuse of a triangle have to do with the pythagorean theorem?
What does the hypotanuse of a triangle have to do with the pythagorean theorem? ... side squared = hypotanuse squared. 2 months ..
.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061210133416AAo2w6u -

Yahoo! Answers - How do you prove the pythagorean theorem?
of course is the hypotanuse and the triangle on ... Then you drew the hypotanuse. ...
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006041512700 -
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HIPPOPOTAMUS:
Mentioned in the bible as a *Behemoth

A hippopotamus is a very large African animal ,
It is similar in girth to a pig , but much larger

lives mainly in rivers and waterholes ,
It is herbivorous , ( living mainly on plantain water Lillie's and roots )

It has a very large mouth with teeth and tusks
a hippopotamus can be , fiercely territorial
and has been known to attack man .

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further information on these extraordinary animals

Hippo World
... Eye of God A reflection on the Biblical behemoth,
as described in the* Book of Job.* ...
Info about the Hippopotamus members.aol.com/HippoPage/others.htm

Wildlife Photo Images
Wildlife images and photos, photography of African, mammals, animals. ... do not edit below this line // = bV = parseInt(navigator.appVersion) bNS ...www.nature-wildlife.com/hip001.html -

Hippopotomus
hippopotomus. Back to Animals Picture ...
humanities.byu.edu/elc/student/vocab/animals/hippo.html

Lady WildLifes Pygmy Hippopotomus Pic Page
The pygmy hippopotamus lives a solitary life in the rain forests of West Africa. Because of hunting and increasing loss of habitat, it is now endangered ...ladywildlife.com/animal/pygmyhippopotamus.html

Answer 3

Hippos are fat, heavy-bodied animals, with short, stumpy legs. They have an enormous head with huge jaws filled with tusk-like canine and incisor teeth. They have a gape of 150 degrees, compared to 45 in humans. Hippos have a short, tufted tail. Hippos are almost hairless. Their skin is grey-brown to blue-black on the upper surface, and pinkish below. The eyes, ears and nostrils are all positioned on top of the head so that they can be almost totally submerged, but still be able to use all of their senses. When diving, the ears and nostrils can be closed. They also have webbed toes.

Answer 4

It is the most dangerous animal in Africa.
It is a mammal.
Its name means 'river horse'
They are very large and have massive tusks and you wouldnt want to meet one on a dark night.
And DONT get in between them and water... *ouchies*

Answer 5

massive thick-skinned herbivorous animal living in or around rivers of tropical Africa
or
The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or Greek "ἵππόποταμος" ("river horse") is a large, plant-eating African mammal, one of only two living and three (or four) recently extinct species in the family Hippopotamidae.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus

Answer 6

dariyai ghoda

rhino like vegetarian an amphiobion who lives in water

Answer 7

Its a pig built to government specifications!

Answer 8

its an big animal,its like water standing into the water often, plant eater. place Africa. see Hollywood movie I'M FOR THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.

Answer 9

A really cool opotomus! And usually cool and muddy.

Answer 10

It is an animal,plant eater.