A little hippopotamus. But don’t be fooled by its cute and friendly appearance. Such a cub, if it lived in the wild, could pose a serious threat in a few years.
On average, males weigh up to 1600 kg, but there are also hippos weighing more than 4 tons. Females are not much inferior to males in terms of size. The difference is more psychological.
Small hippos that suddenly lose their mothers have a low survival rate. The reason for this is that small hippo are actively hunted by predators.
Hippos are voracious, which is evident in their appearance. Russian standard diet of a hippopotamus in a zoo: 82 kg, including 40 kg of grass and 25 kg of succulent fodder.
These are ancient ungulates that were omnivores, although they preferred plant food. Their size was smaller than that of hippos. The largest condylar was up to 2 m long.
Hippos were once thought to be related to pigs. But recent evidence suggests that hippos are related to cetaceans. And there is a reason for that.
In Africa, hippos have been hunted since ancient times, both for their food and for their skin, which was used as a household material. The hippo’s skin is hard and thick – 4 cm wide.
