I was at the zoo today (www.clemetzoo.com)and on the sign for the hippo, it said the scientific name for it was hippopotamus amphibious (sorry don't know how to italicize on this). This brought a question to mind: is a hippo actually an amphibian? I consider an amphibian to be an animal that is born in the water and moves to land in later life, but while baby hippos are born in water, they are primarily land animals from birth. Opinions anyone?
2007-04-14 17:12:18 · 3 answers · asked by theinformants14 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
Hippos spend a LOT of their time in the water. They might not be born in water and move to land and stuff like a frog, but they are at home in both worlds.
2007-04-14 17:20:15 · answer #1 · answered by Cheez_Mastah 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depending on the word chosen and the definition in whichever dictionary you use, the hippo is (Webster) amphibiOUS -able to live on land or in water. This would include , seals , penguins, polar bears, crockodiles, turtles by that definition. However, hippos are not amphibIAN which means they would be cold blooded vertibrates which convert from gill breathing as larvae to air breathing as adults, like frogs and creatures seen in old horror movies.
2007-04-14 18:07:06 · answer #2 · answered by Bomba 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hippos are mammals; they have hair and birth live young
charicteristics of mammals: hair, live birth, nurse young
" " amphibians: born from eggs, start out swimming (tadpoles) and later develope legs (frogs) and move to land, but still stay near the water
2007-04-14 17:19:10 · answer #3 · answered by Kenneth M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋