1. The name "hippopotamus" come from the ancient greek which means "water horse".
2. Their length from head to tail can range from 2.8m to 4.5m.
3. They are semi-aquatic, they inhabit rivers and lakes. They remain in water and mud throughout the day in order to keep their body cool. They only come out at dusk to feed on grass.
4. They can travel up to 10km on land to feed and they can spend four to five hours feeding, consuming consuming about 68kg of grass each night.
5. Hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal on earth (elephant is the first and rhino is the second) with a body mass of about 2200kg to 3600kg.
6. Despite their size, Hippos are very fast runners they run with the speed of 30km/h (faster than an average human)
7. Although hippos spend most of their lives in water, they cannot swim at all. They're actually actually standing or balancing the tip of their toes on a sand bank. They can sink in deep water.
8. When under water hippos seal their eyes and noses in order to prevent water from entering.
9. An adult hippo need to resurface every 3-5 minutes to breath. This process resurfacing and breathing is automatic even when they're asleep.
10. A female hippopotamus have a gestation period of 8 months. They give birth to one baby every 2 years.
11. Also, female hippopotamus produces a pink milk and their babies can suckle under water by sealing their eyes and noses.
12. Hippos secreat a thick pink "sweat". This "sweat" act as a sunscreen (because they have a very sensitive skin and can easily get a sunburn), moisturiser and anti-biotic. The fact that hippos sweat blood is just a myth.
13. Hippos are very aggressive animals and they are the most dangerous large animals on the planet.
14. Every year, hippos k!ll about 500 people (lions k!ll about 22).
15. It's not only their size that make them dangerous but they also have sharp teeth and a very powerful bite. On average a hippopotamus have a bite of 2000PSI (Pascal per Square Inch). Human bite is about 126PSI and lion bite is about 650PSI.
That's all!
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