This is the true story (truly it is) of Huberta The Hippopotamus With A Lust For Wandering. In 1928 Huberta roamed southward along the west coast of Africa for 1000 miles for no apparent reason. Her travels were documented by the local newspapers and she became well-known in the area. She was shot in 1931 when she reached the Cape Province whereupon it was discovered she was male.

A Less Cute Hippo Story (it's really about human stupidity and not hippos at all. But they all start with "h"s)

• A hippo is, despite its unwieldly appearance, remarkably fast and agile and can overtake a running man.
  
• Their name comes from the Latin 'hippopotamus' meaning 'hippopotamus'. This comes from Greek 'hippopotamus' meaning 'water horse'.
  
• The albinos of the species are a brilliant pink because of superficial blood vessels.
  
• They have webbed toes!
  
• They are the third largest land animal after rhinos and elephants. The largest hippo on record was a Kenyan male which was 2664 kg (5872 lb) and 4.5 m (11'6") long.
  
• They use their lower canine teeth exclusively for fighting and their incisors to dig for minerals and salt.
  
• They punctuate their trails with their dung with which they navagate their way at night.
  
• Similarities with cows: they're big, dull and beautiful, their call is a 'moo', their wives are called 'cows' and their kids are called 'calves'.
  
• Their life-span is limited to about 45 years in the wild because their teeth retract into their gums. However one hippo in captivity lived to 49.5 years of age.
  
• Their skin secretes a pink, sticky substance which has antiseptic qualities and dries to form a protective lacquer over the skin, when the animal is on land, to compensate for the dry. This secretion has lead people to incorrectly believe that they 'sweat blood'.
  
• Feeding at night time, they eat, on average, 70 kg (150 lb) of grass a night.
  

If you have anything to say about hippos, email JesSpim.
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