Melissa Zane, age 11, of Williamsport, Pa., for her question:
WHAT DOES THE HIPPOPOTAMUS EAT?
The world's third largest animal that lives on land is the hippopotamus. Only the elephant and the rhinoceros are larger. A large river hippopotamus may weigh as much as 5,800 pounds, although he usually tops the scale at between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds. He stands five feet high and measures 12 to 15 feet from nose to rear. His tail is about 22 inches long.
There are two types of hippopotamuses: the river hippopotamus, or common hippo, and the smaller and rarer pygmy hippopotamus. They live in central, southern and western Africa.
A hippopotamus has long, curved front teeth. On the side are tusk like teeth. All the teeth grow throughout his life but they seldom become too long because the teeth of the upper and lower jaws grind together and wear away.
River hippopotamuses are good swimmers. They live in rivers, lakes or streams near grasslands. They can stay underwater for as long as six minutes and can travel on land about as fast as a human: running at speeds of about 20 miles per hour.
Living in herds of from five to 30, river hippopotamuses spend each day resting in the water, eating water plants and sunning themselves. At night the herd goes on land to feed. The animals eat fruit, leaves, grass and vegetables. They sometimes travel for miles near the river bank or lake shore, grazing as they go. Each hippopotamus will eat about 130 pounds of vegetable matter each day.
Pygmy hippopotamuses live alone or in pairs in thick forests near streams. They are vegetable eaters, too.
A female hippopotamus carries her young inside her body for about seven and a half months before it is born. There's usually just one baby, although twins occasionally can be found. The baby, who weighs about 100 pounds at birth, caswim almost immediately and usually nurses on his mother's milk underwater. The youngster begins to eat grass when he reaches the age of 4 to 6 months. A mother will have her first baby when she is about 5 or 6 years old and will live about 30 years in the wilds. In a zoo she will live to be about 50.
Occasionally two hippopotamuses will fight. Almost no other animal will attack an adult hippopotamus, although crocodiles, hyenas and lions will sometimes attack the young. If a hippopotamus feels threatened on land, he heads for the water.
Man has greatly reduced both the number of hippotamuses and the size of the area in which they live. Some food
experts have suggested that the animals could be raised for their meat. The weight of edible meat of a hippopotamus totals about two thirds the weight of the entire body, a proportion that is much higher than with most other wild animals. In addition, flesh from the hippopotamus has an extremely high protein content.