Kruger National Park Game
Information
Hippo Facts by
David Meisel
 Latin
Name: Hippopotamus amphibius
Lifespan: Both the
males and females live up to 40 years of age.
Sexual differentiation:
The males are much larger
than the females, reaching 3000 kg and the females about 2000 kg. The male’s
tusks (incisors) are longer than the females, up to 50 cm in length.
Social grouping:
The collective name for a
group of hippo is a “raft of hippo”. A typical family unit consists of
1 dominant male, any number of females with their young. The dominant bull
is extremely territorial and protective over the females. Males that are
not dominant wonder on their own or in small groups of males, often avoiding
any confrontations with any territorial bulls in the area.
Reproduction: |
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Mating takes place in the water.
After a gestation of about 8 months the female gives birth in shallow water.
The female seems to somehow know the sex of her calf before giving birth
as a pregnant cow that has a male calf in her will often leave her family
group to give birth in a separate river or dam.
The dominant male reacts
very aggressively to new males trying to join his family group even if
they are newborn or his own, so for this reason the pregnant female leaves
the group to give birth and stay on her own with the newborn male calf
until he is strong enough to move quickly and hopefully avoid dangerous
confrontations with the dominant bull when they rejoin the rest of the
family.
When pregnant with a female
calf, the mother will normally give birth in the same river or dam where
the rest of the family are.
The cow’s milk has a very
thick texture, almost like yogurt. The thick milk makes it possible for
the calf to drink from its mother while under water without the milk dissolving
too much.
Territoriality:
The size of the male’s territory
depends on a number of different factors. If there is a shortage of water
in the rivers and dams, hippo start to congregate where ever they can find
water, often resulting in a lot of fighting between the males’. With so
many males in close proximity, the territories soon become a lot smaller
with all the competition. An over-population of hippo can have the same
effect. The amount of good grazing grass in an area can also affect the
amount of competition between dominant bulls.
The male marks his territory
by scattering his dung onto vegetation like trees and bushes. He does this
by facing his behind towards the vegetation and as he drops his dung he
starts to swing his tale continuously and rapidly from side to side, resulting
in the dung being sprayed onto the vegetation. The male will often scatter
dung in the same place on land as well as in the water, leaving his own
scent throughout his territory.
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Feeding habits and sun
protection:
Hippos’ are classified as
herbivores but have been known to feed off the carcasses of animals, this
being very rare of course.
They have a very thin epidermis
that very sensitive to too much sun. For most of the day they stay submerged
under the water to protect their skins from the sun. If a hippo stays out
of the water too long on a hot day, its skin starts to dry out and over
extended periods out of the water its skin starts to crack open into wounds.
The perspiration of hippo
gives limited protection from the sun acting as a form of sun-block and
an anti-bacterial agent. Their perspiration is pink in colour which often
looks like blood with excessive sweating. |
Hippos’ leave the water after
sunset and spend most of the night out grazing. Early in the morning before
the sun rises is the time when they return back to the water, where they
stay for the rest of the day until night falls again.
During the summer months
there is normally a lot of grass, so the hippos’ might only walk 5 or 10km
in a night to feed. In the dryer winter months or drought there is less
grass, forcing the hippos’ to walk as much as 15 to 20km or more in a night
to find food.
Most dangerous mammal
in Africa:
Statistically hippos’ kill
more people than any other mammal in Africa. The people that get killed
are normally living in rural areas where there is no tap water. These people
need to fetch water and bath in rivers and dams and often get caught between
the hippos’ and the water when the hippos’ are making their way back to
the water in the early morning. Hippo often react very aggressively by
attacking when their pathways are blocked, resulting in many deaths every
year.
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About the Author - I am an
ex-game ranger from South Africa. I have 2 awesome blogs packed with information
on all sorts of wildlife in Africa. I also talk about encounters with dangerous
game while doing bush walks. Visit my Blogs to find out more: www.safari-stories.blogspot.com
and www.southafrican-wildlife.blogspot.com |
