Hippopotamuses

Even though I have never been to Africa or lived anywhere remotely near a hippopotamus, I have been selected the "Hippo Expert" among my blogging friends, so here's what I know:

Firstly, being the English nerd that I am, the plural is NOT Hippopotami despite the word's origin being Greek. The plural is in fact Hippopotatmuses, (yes, like that annoying Christmas song). Hippo means horse, and potamus means river. They do spend a lot of time in the water, which is also where they exert territorialism, never on dry land. To mark their territory, hippos poop and swish their tails to spray it around as much as possible. Lovely.

Obviously, they're huge. They average 11 feet long and between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds! And they typically live 40-50 years.

Apart from eating, they do pretty much everything else under water, including sleeping. Adult hippos have to rise to the surface every 4-6 minutes to breathe, but while they sleep, their bodies do it automatically for them. They don't even wake up. Baby hippos can actually swim, unlike their too-heavy parents, which is good because they need to breathe every 2-3 minutes. But they do still suckle under water.

One thing I'd always heard was that hippopotamuses are dangerous, causing more human deaths than any other animal except the mosquito. Apparently exact statistics are "hard to come by," but no one would doubt it. Even crocodiles run when they see hippos coming. Steve Irwin considered a film he made from a boat surrounded by hippos the most dangerous thing he filmed (clearly before the stingray incident).

So, there's my knowledge, Rachel, thanks to Wikipedia and Google Images.