Verna Burrell, age 11, of Columbia, S.C., for her question:

Where is the hippopotamus found?

Long, long ago, the hippo lived in Europe and shared the Thames Valley with early human beings. He most likely enjoyed life in other rivers of Europe, Asia and Africa. Nowadays, he survives only in Africa, and there only north of Zululand.

A big hippo may weigh four tons and of all the land animals in the world, he has the largest mouth. Some of the big whales have larger mouths, but they live in the sea. The name hippopotamus is coined from two older words meaning river and horse. Mr. Hippo does live in rivers, not though he is a relative of the horse. Actually, he is a distant relative of the pig.