Learn about how the ABQ BioPark staff cares for hippopotamuses and all the nutrients and exercise they need. Water keeps hippos cool in hot environments and helps protect their skin. Instead they glide through the water, pushing off of the river bottom and walking submerged. Hippos have some really unique adaptations that make an aquatic life much easier such as special eyelids, and ears and nostrils that can close.
A group of hippos is called a school, bloat or pod. These pods of hippos only sleep for short periods of time off and on throughout the day making them largely nocturnal. They travel and eat mostly during the night. The pods usually consist of members and must travel to nearby grasslands to find food; areas around waterholes and rivers usually have no vegetation left because of overgrazing by hippos and other animals.
Hippos may travel six miles in one night and walk single-file along paths made by their heavy feet over time. After arriving to the grasses, they use their lips to rip them up and eat continuously for around six hours. They also eat any fallen fruit they find on the ground and have been seen very rarely eating meat. An adult hippo eats about 80 pounds of food each night. Hippos are the third largest land animal on earth after the elephant and white rhino.
Adult females weigh around 3, pounds while the males can weigh anywhere from 3,, pounds. A newborn baby hippo weighs from pounds and starts gaining weight quickly as it grows. Even a crocodile is no match for a fully-grown hippopotamus, as their mouths are so large they can easily lift even the largest crocodiles out of the water.
Baby hippopotamuses are prey to crocodiles, lions and hyenas, but once a hippopotamus is full-grown their only real predators are humans. A semi-aquatic life gives hippos a huge advantage because they can submerge in the water and utilize the element of surprise if necessary. They are graceful in water and much better able to protect themselves there. If threatened on land hippos usually run for the water, as this is where they have the advantage. They can run much faster than humans for short bursts; anywhere from miles per hour if necessary on-land, and will charge potential threats using their sharp canine and incisor teeth.
