The Hippo is an African mammal that spends its days in the water and nights on land, eating grass and occasionally meat.  They hang out in groups of  5 -30 with a single male dominating the group and protecting his territory in the river, which makes sense since that's where mating and birth take place.  Females first give birth at around 5 years of age, following an 8-month pregnancy.  Roughly 17 months elapse after giving birth before the female is again fertile.  Babies are born under water and weigh around 100 pounds at birth.  They swim to the surface to take their first breath.  Later, though they suckle under water, if Mom heads into deep water, babies may rest on her back.  They are weaned by their first birthday.

Surprisingly, despite their short stubby legs and heavy bodies, a Hippopotamus can out sprint a human.  And despite their comical appearance, a Hippo is rumored to be Africa's most dangerous animal, which is saying something if you consider that means it's ornerier than lions and crocodiles.   Contradicting their reputation for having bad tempers and being violent, male Hippos don't fight to the death over territory. If it becomes obvious that one is more powerful, the other backs down before blood is shed.  Provided they remain submissive, the herd leader allows other males to remain with the group.

An estimated 125,000 to 150,000 hippos live in the wild, though ivory poachers and shrinking habitat threaten that number.  They are concentrated in Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Congo, Ghana, Gambia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique.  In Columbia, drug Kingpin Pablo Escobar brought 4 Hippos in New Orleans for $3,000 each, and brought them to live in one of the 12 man made lakes on his 5,500-acre Xanadu-like Napoles estate.  After Escobar's death, two Hippos were not placed in zoos and since then have multiplied to around 16.  The Columbian government wants to build a prison on the site, but does not know what to do with the Hippos. 

Hippo males are about 11 feet long, up to 5 feet high, and weigh around 2 tons.  They can reach up to 4 tons toward the end of their lives.  Females top out at around 3,000 pounds at age 25.  Males keep growing throughout their lives, which in the wild can be up to 50 years.  A Hippo at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana is still living at 56, and one at a German zoo lived to age 61.  The Toledo Ohio Zoo (which I've visited and highly recommend) was one of the first to build a living area for its Hippos that resembles their natural habitat, including a 360,000-gallon pool.  Hippos breed readily in zoos and most of the Hippos in today's zoos were born in captivity.

Hippos sweat is red/orange colored and serves as a sunscreen.  It turns brown, giving Hippos their unique red-brown coloring.  The closest animal species isn't a pig, rhino or elephant; it is a whale.