{"id":360726,"date":"2026-04-14T14:08:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=360726"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:08:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:38:33","slug":"common-hippopotamus-hippopotamus-amphibius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/common-hippopotamus-hippopotamus-amphibius\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibius)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>News:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Colombia will launch a plan in the second half of 2026 to control its invasive hippopotamus population.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">About Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibius)<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_360730\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-360730\" style=\"width: 331px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-360730\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Source-Wildlife-Nomads-1.jpg?resize=331%2C480&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibius)\" width=\"331\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Source-Wildlife-Nomads-1.jpg?resize=207%2C300&amp;ssl=1 207w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Source-Wildlife-Nomads-1.jpg?w=583&amp;ssl=1 583w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-360730\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; Wildlife Nomads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <strong>large, semiaquatic mammals<\/strong> native to <strong>sub-Saharan Africa.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Scientific name: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their Scientific name is <\/span><b>Hippopotamus amphibius.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Sub-species:<\/strong> They are <\/span><b>one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <strong>other<\/strong> being the <strong>pygmy hippopotamus<\/strong> (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are the <strong>world\u2019s third-largest land mammals<\/strong> after elephants and white rhinos.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Habitat: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They live in waterbodies such as <strong>rivers, lakes, and mangroves.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Distribution: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their current distribution is limited to <strong>sub-Saharan Africa<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They range from <strong>Gambia and Senegal in the west to Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Somalia in the east, southwards to South Africa and Swaziland.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Characteristics:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Appearance: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These <\/span><b>muscular animals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have round torsos and pinkish-brown bodies with <strong>thick, waterproof skin, and short, stout legs.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Speed:<\/strong> They can<\/span><b> reach speeds of up to 22 miles per hour on land <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">over short distances.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their<\/span><b> eyes, ears, and nostrils <\/b>are <b>placed high <\/b>on the top of their<b> skulls, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">allowing them to <strong>stay above water<\/strong> while the rest of the body remains submerged.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They <\/span><b>have teeth inside their huge mouths<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their molars are used for eating, while their long, sharp canines are for fighting.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their <\/span><b>strong jaws can open to 180 degrees,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and they have a strong bite.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Size: Males <\/b>can reach lengths of<b> 10.8 to 16.5 feet, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <strong>weigh<\/strong> up to<\/span><b> 9,920 pounds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, while <strong>females <\/strong><\/span>weigh up to<b> 3,000 pounds.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Diet: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <\/span><b>herbivores (graminivores) and feed almost entirely on grass<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Behaviour: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They spend<\/span><b> most of their day in the water or mud<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to keep cool, wet, and protect their delicate skin.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When basking on the shore,<\/span><b> they secrete an oily red sweat-like substance <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that moistens their skin, repels water, and protects them from the sun and germs.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They <\/span><b>cannot swim, float or breathe underwater. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They walk or run along the bottom of the riverbed.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are<strong> social, nocturnal, and sedentary animals.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <\/span><b>highly territorial and use dung middens<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (an area where they repeatedly poop) <\/span><b>to mark their territory<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and communicate with other hippos.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Threats: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poaching for their meat, fat, and ivory teeth.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Loss of habitat<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Animal-human conflicts.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Conservation status:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>IUCN: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have been classified as <strong>vulnerable<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>CITES: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have been classified as <strong>Appendix III.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Colombia will launch a plan in the second half of 2026 to control its invasive hippopotamus population. About Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibius) They are large, semiaquatic mammals native to sub-Saharan Africa. Scientific name: Their Scientific name is Hippopotamus amphibius.\u00a0 Sub-species: They are one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/common-hippopotamus-hippopotamus-amphibius\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Amphibius)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,12039,11834],"tags":[11872,10599],"class_list":["post-360726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-the-print","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}