The Hippopotamus

-


The hippopotamus, is a herbivorous mammal found in tropical Africa. It is said to be a relative of: camels, pigs and deer; I do not know how true that is. Recent studies say, they are related to whales. The hippo, lives a double life - staying in water during the day and rarely venturing out; and after sunset, the hippos file out to graze. Hippos, prefer to stay wet; wether it is mating, playing, fighting or giving birth - the hippo is wet. Much of their time is spent standing or swimming underwater, where they feed on aquatic plants; they must rise to breathe every five minutes or so.

Hippos make a variety of sounds: grunts, growls, screams and other sounds, even under water - to communicate with each other. Sometimes hundreds of hippos will share the same territory of water during the day; but, they usually live in herds of about fifteen animals.

The enormous hippopotamus, has short legs and a broad body with a tough gray or brown hide. The male stands about five feet high at the shoulder and can weigh almost five tons; the female is slightly smaller. Hippos, have huge mouths and teeth; a bull hippo's canines can grow to twenty-eight inches long, and their mouths can open four feet wide! The eyes are near the top of the head, so the animal can see even when nearly submerged.


The pygmy hippopotamus, is found in W. Africa. It is about thirty inches tall at the shoulder and weighs about four hundred pounds. It tends to be solitary and spends much of its time on the shore, sleeping by day in thickets.

From 1972 to 1983, I lived in Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya; it is close to Lake Victoria. Just a short distance from the center of the city, one can easily see many hippos. It is in Kisumu where, I, several times looked very closely at the hippopotamus at very close range, in front of car lights - at nights. It is huge! And ugly!

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/

Popular posts from this blog

The Albatross

-
Image
They have have been called the grandest living flying machine on Earth . No wonder: the Albatross has a wing span of 3 meters and a body mass of up to 12 kilograms. They can live for up to as long as 60 years. But as they have one of the lowest reproductive rates of any birds and as they are being hunted and killed, they may become extinct. Biologists have discovered that swordfish, tuna and other fishing fleets, are catching these birds while fishing, and are killing more that tens of thousands of these birds every year. In a couple of decades many species may be wiped out unless urgent action is taken . More: British Antarctic Survey , Save The Albatross , Endangered , National Geographic , WWF , Facts , petcaretips , Earthlife , antarcticaconnection , coolantarctica , Wikipedia , Encarta , Ecuador Travel , Books
Read more

Rwanda Genocide Deniers

-
Image
It's very shocking and extremely disturbing that, there are some people who deny that there was Genocide in Rwanda ; there are those who have been trying hard to spread lies and propaganda and twist real facts and the truth about the Rwandan genocide; there are those who deny that , it took meticulous planning - resulting in about 800,000 Tutsis and some Hutus, systematically being brutally butchered, in Rwanda, in 1994: .........thousands of children butchered individually, by machete. And the massacres at hundreds of churches, mostly Catholic churches at that. Not to mention the systematic gang rapes of Tutsi women and girls which led the international tribunal to define rape as an act of genocide when part of an extermination campaign. The genocide, while it coincided with the civil war and was clearly driven by the politics around the conflict, was mostly carried out by civilians against civilians far from the front. There was no "other side". There were the murde...
Read more

Dinder National Park Sudan

-
Image
Dinder - Sudan Situated in the East of the country, very close to the Ethiopian border, about 400 km. (205 mi.) south-east of Khartoum - Sudan's capital city, is Dinder National Park (DNP) - some times called Dinda ( In Arabic: محميه الدندر ) . Covering about 6,475 sq. km. (2,500 sq. mi.) - some estimates say the park covers a much larger area; which would make it one of the largest in Africa. Established in 1935, it is the most important wildlife reserve in Northern Sudan. It is one of the two parks in the country  designated as Biosphere Reserves . The other is Radom National Park (RNP) in southern Darfur. The park, in Dinder District, Sennar State, like all game parks and reserves in Sudan, is confronted with several threatening problems such as trespassing livestock, poaching, increased human settlements and encroachment in the surrounding areas. Like all game parks and reserves in Sudan, you can hardly find any detailed information on the park. Photos of it, too, are v...
Read more