Interesting facts about Hippo

Interesting Facts About Hippopotamus

The term, “Hippopotamus” has been derived from two Greek words, Hippo meaning horse and potamos meaning river. That is why it is also known as, “River Horse”. After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest type of land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Hippos are distantly related to whales and probably SHARE a common ancestor, the now extinct line of “hoofed predators” that contained the famous “wolf-sheep” Andrewsarchus.
The female Hippos give birth to a baby calf one at a time within a time span of two to three years. Before and after giving birth, the expecting mother isolates herself for a time period of 10 to 44 days along with the baby. The mother then nurses the baby for 12 months, stays by it in the early years and protects it. Just like other mammals the female Hippos feed their babies with their own milk, but one thing that differentiates the Hippo’s milk with others’ is its color.

Yes, it is true the color of Hippo’s milk is bright pink. The reason why it is pink is that hippo secretes two kind of unique acids called “Hipposudoric acid” and “Norhipposudoric acid“. The two acids got their names from the word Hippopotamus.
The Hipposudoric acid is reddish in color and often known as, “Blood Sweat” (hipposudoric, referring to hippo sweat), although its neither blood nor sweat. While the other, Norhipposudoric acid is bright orange. Both these acids are strong enough to minimize the growth of the bacteria on the Hippo’s skin. These acids also act as a sunscreen for the Hippo’s skin as they absorb the UV rays that destroy the skin cells. In a milking Hippo the two acids get combined with the white milk and thus pink colored milk is ejected. So the formula is simple:

White + Red = Pink

Hippos are the only mammals that produce pink milk; there were many who believed that Yak’s milk is also pink but the fact is that when a Yak gives birth to a calf, the first milk produced contains blood that gives it a pink color and is known by the name of “Beastings”. After some time the milk turns back to the usual white color.
Besides the pink color of the milk there are some other interesting facts regarding Hippos that you may find interesting:

Fun Hippopotamus Facts

- A common hippo’s hide alone can weigh half a ton!

- Male hippos will attack young hippos in the water, but not on land.

- An adult hippopotamus can stay submerged for 5 to 6 minutes.

- A baby hippo can eat grass in 3 weeks, but nurses for a year.

- A hippopotamus can eat 100 to 150 pounds of grass in a night.

- A hippo’s tail is up to 22 inches long.