Description
The hippopotamus is undoubtedly one of Africa’s most popular animals, inseparably associated with warm rivers where herds lie lazily in the shallows. Hippos are skilled divers and can remain underwater for up to 10 minutes on a single breath, but they avoid deep water because they cannot actively swim. The hippopotamus is the heaviest living even-toed ungulate and the third-heaviest land animal. It obtains some of its food in the water, using its teeth to dig rhizomes and roots such as lotus roots from the bottom. Its exceptionally large, three-part stomach contains many species of symbiotic protozoa, which allow it to digest very coarse, fibrous food. A hippopotamus eats 30–40 kg of plant food each day, which is relatively little in proportion to its size.