How Long Can Hippos Stay Under Water

Facts near hippos

A hippopotamus in the water with a bird on its back. (Image credit: <a href="http://world wide web.shutterstock.com/gallery-637000p1.html">Uryadnikov Sergey</a> | <a href="http://world wide web.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>)

Hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius) are large, round, water-loving animals that are native to Africa. The discussion "hippopotamus" comes from the Greek word for "water horse" or "river horse," although hippos and horses aren't closely related. The closest living relatives to hippos are pigs, whales and dolphins, according to the San Diego Zoo (opens in new tab).

Size

Mutual hippos, also known as river hippos, are very rotund animals and are the 3rd largest living land mammals, afterwards elephants and white rhinos, according to the African Wildlife Foundation (opens in new tab). They grow to between 10.8 and 16.5 anxiety (3.3 and five meters) long and up to 5.2 anxiety (1.6 thou) tall at the shoulder. The average female weighs effectually 3,000 lbs. (i,400 kilograms), while males counterbalance 3,500 to 9,920 lbs. (1,600 to 4,500 kg), according to the San Diego Zoo.

These enormous animals are related to the much smaller and rarer pygmy hippo (Choeropsis liberiensis), which only grows to exist 2.5 to 3.ii feet (0.75 to 1 thousand) tall and almost five to 6 anxiety (i.five to 1.75 m) long, co-ordinate to the San Diego Zoo (opens in new tab). Pygmy hippos tin weigh between 350 and 600 lbs. (160 and 270 kg).

Habitat and behavior

Common hippos live in sub-Saharan Africa. They alive in areas with arable water, as they spend most of their time submerged to keep their skin absurd and moist. Considered amphibious animals, hippos spend up to 16 hours per day in the water, according to National Geographic (opens in new tab).

Hippos are social beasts, hanging out in groups called schools, bloats, pods or sieges. Schools of hippos normally consist of ten to xxx members, including both females and males, although some groups have as many every bit 200 individuals. No matter the size, the schoolhouse is usually led by a dominant male, co-ordinate to the San Diego Zoo.

Hippos are loud animals. Their snorts, grumbles and wheezes take been measured at 115 decibels, according to the San Diego Zoo — almost the same volume y'all'd hear when xv feet (four.vi m) from the speakers at a rock concert. The animals' signature noise, called the "wheeze honk," can be heard from more than half a mile (1 kilometer) away, Live Science previously reported. These booming creatures likewise utilise subsonic vocalizations to communicate.

Hippos are aggressive and are considered very dangerous. They take big teeth and tusks that they utilize for fighting off threats, including humans. Sometimes, their immature fall victim to developed hippos' tempers. During a fight between two adults, a young hippo caught in the middle can be seriously injure or even crushed, according to PBS (opens in new tab).

Though hippos move easily through the water, they can't actually swim. According to the San Diego Zoo, these animals glide through the water by pushing themselves off other objects. And they tin can stay underwater for up to five minutes without coming upward for air, co-ordinate to National Geographic.

(Image credit: Andreas Lippenberger/Shutterstock)

Hungry, hungry hippos

Hippos have a healthy and mostly herbivorous appetite. Adults eat about 80 lbs. (35 kg) of grass each night, traveling up to half-dozen miles (x km) in a night to become their fill. They also eat fruit that they find during their nightly scavenging, according to National Geographic. If food is scarce, hippos can store food in their stomachs and go up to 3 weeks without eating.

Although hippos were long believed to be exclusively herbivorous, in a 2015 study published in the journal Mammal Review (opens in new tab), scientists reported that hippos occasionally feed on the carcasses of animals, including other hippos.

Babe hippos

Female hippos accept a gestation period of eight months and have only one baby at a time, according to the San Diego Zoo. At birth, the calf weighs betwixt fifty and 110 lbs. (23 and l kg). For its first viii months, the calf nurses while its female parent is on state, or it swims underwater to suckle. When it dives, the calf closes its nose and ears to block out water. All hippos have this ability. Hippos besides have membranes that embrace and protect their optics while they are underwater.

At v to vii years old, a hippo calf is fully mature, according to the San Diego Zoo. The average life span of a hippo in the wild or in captivity can range from nearly 40 to 61, according to the University of Michigan'south Animal Diverseness Web (opens in new tab).

Related: What animal has the longest pregnancy?

Attacks on humans

The hippopotamus is considered the globe's deadliest large state mammal. These semiaquatic giants impale an estimated 500 people per twelvemonth in Africa, according to the BBC (opens in new tab). Hippos are highly aggressive and are well-equipped to deliver considerable damage to annihilation that wanders into their territory.

For example, in 2014, a hippo attacked a small, unsuspecting boat filled with Nigerian school children, killing 12 students and i teacher on board, ABC News reported (opens in new tab). Conflicts between humans and hippos too occur when hippos wander onto country in search of food.

Hippos have big teeth. Don't mess with them. (Prototype credit: Shutterstock)

Conservation status

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (opens in new tab) (IUCN), the common hippo isn't endangered, merely it is vulnerable to extinction. The IUCN estimates that between 115,000 and 130,000 common hippos remain in the wild. Poaching and habitat loss reduced the hippo's global numbers during the late 1990s and early 2000s, but the population has since plateaued thank you to stricter law enforcement, co-ordinate to the IUCN.

Invasive hippos

Though officials confiscated other exotic animals in Escobar's private zoo, the escaped hippos — which can weigh thousands of pounds — were deemed too dangerous to capture. — (Image credit: Photo past Juancho Torres/Getty Images)

Notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar famously kept hippos, giraffes, elephants and other exotic animals on his estate in northwestern Colombia. When Escobar was killed in 1993, the Colombian government seized all of his avails, including his menagerie. Near of his animals were transferred to zoos and aquariums, merely his four hippos were left to fend for themselves. Those four animals made their style into Republic of colombia's waterways, where they multiplied.

An estimated 80 hippos now inhabit the river networks almost Medellín, Colombia, where Escobar's Hacienda Nápoles estate was located, Live Science reported in October 2021. Wildlife officials in Republic of colombia began sterilizing the hippos in 2021, considering this invasive population poses a threat to the community, in that the massive beasts occasionally bruise crops and charge at humans. The hippos also threaten native wildlife populations and their presence degrades the local ecosystem, equally each private hippo gobbles downward dozens of pounds of vegetation a night and generates formidable quantities of poop.

Notwithstanding, many Colombians have grown fond of the uninvited ungulates and vehemently oppose their removal. Some scientists, though, fear that the animals' continued presence could have unintended consequences. "The take chances to native species — such every bit manatees, turtles and fish — is high, and the environmental effect is unpredictable," Nelson Aranguren-Riaño, biologist at Pedagogical and Technological Academy of Colombia, said in a statement (opens in new tab).

Additional resources and readings

Did you know hippos are covered in fungus? Learn more than with SciShow Kids (opens in new tab).
Acquire nearly the "The 'Beauty' Government of Hippos" with BBC Earth (opens in new tab).
Bank check out the book Saving Fiona: The Story of the Globe'south Most Famous Babe Hippo (opens in new tab).

Bibliography

AFP. (2014, Nov 19). Thirteen people, including 12 children, killed in Hippopotamus attack. ABC News. Retrieved February four, 2022, from https://world wide web.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/hippopotamus-set on-kills-13-in-boat-in-niger/5904646 (opens in new tab)

African Wildlife Foundation. (n.d.). Hippopotamus. African Wildlife Foundation. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/hippopotamus (opens in new tab)

BBC. (2016, June 15). What are the world's deadliest animals? BBC News. Retrieved February iv, 2022, from https://world wide web.bbc.com/news/world-36320744 (opens in new tab)

Dudley, J. P., Hang'Ombe, B. G., Leendertz, F. H., Dorward, L. J., Castro, J., Subalusky, A. L., & Clauss, M. (2015). Carnivory in the common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius: implications for the ecology and epidemiology of anthrax in African landscapes. Mammal Review, 46(3), 191–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12056 (opens in new tab)

IUCN. (north.d.). Hippopotamus. IUCN Red Listing of Threatened Species. Retrieved Feb iv, 2022, from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/10103/0 (opens in new tab)

National Geographic. (n.d.). Hippopotamus: National Geographic. National Geographic. Retrieved Feb four, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/hippopotamus (opens in new tab)

Public Broadcasting Service. (2020, July ix). Hippo fact sheet. PBS. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/hippo-fact-sheet/ (opens in new tab)

San Diego Zoo. (n.d.). Hippo. San Diego Zoo Wild animals Alliance Animals and Plants. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/hippo (opens in new tab)

San Diego Zoo. (n.d.). Pygmy hippopotamus. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Animals and Plants. Retrieved February four, 2022, from https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/pygmy-hippopotamus (opens in new tab)

UC San Diego. (2018, April 26). A drug lord and the globe's largest invasive animate being. UC San Diego News Center. Retrieved February 4, 2022, from https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/a-drug-lord-and-the-worlds-largest-invasive-animal (opens in new tab)

This article was last updated on Feb. 14, 2022 by Live Science staff writer Nicoletta Lanese. Live Scientific discipline contributor Annie Roth besides contributed reporting.

Originally published on Alive Science.

Alina Bradford is a contributing writer for Alive Scientific discipline. Over the by 16 years, Alina has covered everything from Ebola to androids while writing health, science and tech articles for major publications. She has multiple health, condom and lifesaving certifications from Oklahoma State University. Alina's goal in life is to effort as many experiences as possible. To appointment, she has been a volunteer firefighter, a dispatcher, substitute teacher, creative person, janitor, children'south book author, pizza maker, consequence coordinator and much more than.