What Will Hippos Looke Like When the Adapt Again What Will Hippos Look Like When They Adapt Again

Hip hip-po ray, it'southward World Hippo Twenty-four hours! To gloat, hither'south v things yous demand to know about hippos. Look out for our fabulous 4 when you adjacent visit!

There are two species: common hippos and pygmy hippos

And at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, we're home to both!

Standing at but 1m tall, the pygmy hippo is significantly shorter than its larger cousin the common hippo, and is much lighter, at less than twenty% of the weight. In the wild, pygmy hippos are found in West Africa and tend to alive lonely lives in forests and swamps. They are known to exist shy, often just coming out at dark.

Common hippos, on the other manus, live in groups in rivers and lakes throughout sub-Saharan Africa. They spend upward to 18 hours a solar day in water to go along their trunk temperature abiding and to back up their huge frame.

Fun fact: The give-and-take Hippopotamus comes from the aboriginal Greek - 'hippo' meaning horse and 'potamo' meaning river.

They make their ain sunscreen

Hippos have very sensitive skin which easily becomes dry out and cracked. They produce a pigment that acts as a natural sunscreen - a fluid oozes from glands under the skin which helps keep the pare moist and stops sunburn.

They have huge mouths

Hippos have enormous mouths which tin can exist opened unbelievably broad, revealing their strong lower teeth.

A hippo's jaw is capable of opening upwardly to 150 degrees compared to a homo jaw which can open up about 50 degrees. Developed hippos have razor-abrupt tusks in the lower jaw. In the common hippo these teeth can grow every bit long as 50cm and weigh over 1kg!

Fun fact: Hippos are noisy feeders! A pygmy hippo tin can sometimes exist heard eating from up to 50m abroad.

Mutual hippos accept aquatic footwear

The mutual hippo and the pygmy hippo are related, but they accept adapted to different habitats. And i of these adaptions is in the feet. The common hippo spends over half its life in the water. The toes on each foot are slightly webbed to aid swimming, and the feet are large and flat, acting equally paddles underwater.

The pygmy hippo is less aquatic and spends more fourth dimension on land, taking cover in the dumbo tropical forest during office of the twenty-four hours. The toes are long and spread out so are more adapted to walking on the land.

Pygmy hippos are living on the Border

Pygmy hippos are recognised on ZSL'due south Edge list of unique and threatened animals, which helps united states of america focus our conservation efforts where they are almost needed. They're Endangered, establish only in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast. Sadly, it'due south estimated that there are only ii-3000 left in the wild, due to threats such as logging and poaching. ZSL has worked to conserve these enigmatic yet highly elusive animals in Liberia's Sapo National Park and the Hill Mountains in Sierra Leone.

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Who do we accept at the Zoo?

Tapon

Sometimes visitors think that he'south a baby hippo, just he's non - Tapon is a fully grown adult male pygmy hippo. He might be small-scale, just has a Big personality and tin exist very stubborn.

The 16-year-former is a cheeky chap who loves a dorsum stratch, but isn't a fan of mornings. He likes to exercise everything in his own time - or as his keepers say, 'Tapon time'. Some of his favourite foods include bamboo leaves, willow, lettuce and carrots, but he's not too keen on parsnips - he's been known to turn his nose upward at them!

Hoover

At almost two tonnes - heavier than a giraffe - Hoover is our adult male person common hippo. He loves attention and is always walking around with his mouth open, hoping to get a snack, or resting his mentum on the gate waiting for a scratch from his keepers. When the lord's day's shining, you'll often see him sunbathing, or munching on his favourite root vegetables in his paddock. He'll gloat his 21st birthday on 14 July this year.

Lola

Lola was born on 27 December 2003 at Whipsnade Zoo, and is an affectionate and doting mutual hippo. She enjoys her food and loves drinking from the hose - at cleaning times, she stands with her oral cavity broad open, waiting for keepers to spray her! She weighs around one,390kg - that's nearly the same as ix reindeer! Greedy little Hodor, her calf, is always afterward her food simply she'southward much bigger and faster and then manages to crush him to it – for now!

Hodor

Named after the loveable giant from 'Game of Thrones', Hodor is our youngest hippo, built-in on 21 July 2017. At around half of mum Lola's size (which is notwithstanding about as heavy every bit two polar bears), he's still got a lot of growing to do if he's going to catch up to dad Hoover. Simply like his dad, he enjoys a skilful tickle nether the chin.

Wait out for our hippos at Whipsnade when you next visit!

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Source: https://www.zsl.org/blogs/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/five-things-you-need-to-know-about-hippos

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