What Can You Do With A Hippopotamus? Quiz

Answer: Africa

The hippopotamus can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the area of Africa south of the Saharan Desert, a huge desert which covers much of North Africa. The Sahara is the hottest desert in the world; its searing temperatures and dry conditions with minimal rainfall would not be a suitable environment for the hippopotamus to live.

Answer: Greek

Many of our English words have their roots in ancient languages from different areas, and many are of Latin and Greek origin. In this instance, 'hippopotamus' has its origin in the Greek language. Its meaning is 'river horse'. The plural of hippopotamus is generally hippopotamuses, but hippopotami is also correct. They are also commonly referred to by the shorter name of hippo/s.

The Etruscan language was a language spoken in Etruria, which was an ancient civilisation in northern Italy. It was completely taken over by Latin, the language of ancient Rome. Sumerian was an ancient Mesopotamian language.

Answer: bull and cow

Male and female hippopotamuses are called bull and cow respectively. Many other animals are also known as a bull and a cow. The most obvious example is cattle, but other male and female animals called bull and cow are many and varied including the gazelle, elephant, camel and dolphin (to which the hippo is distantly related). The male and female terms boar and sow relate to pigs, ram and ewe to sheep, and sire and dam refers to dogs and horses.

Answer: True

An adult male hippo can measure up to 16-17 feet long. This does however include their tail, which is pretty long at around 22 inches. Male hippos, which, unlike the female, grow throughout their lives, can weigh as much as three to four tons. Males are generally quite a bit bigger than females. The hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal after the elephant and the white rhinoceros. (Whales are larger, the blue whale being the largest mammal of all, but whales are sea-dwelling, so therefore not land mammals.)

Answer: submerged in water or mud

The hippopotamus is a semi-aquatic animal and spends most of its day submerged in water or mud to keep cool during the extreme heat of the day, emerging at night to feed. They have the ability to close their nostrils when they are underwater, and come to the surface to breathe, even when they are asleep.

They live in and around freshwater lakes and rivers, not in the sea. Although hippos' bodies are too heavy to float and they cannot swim, they are successful water-dwellers; they live in shallow waters and either walk or push off from the bottom with their feet in order to move from place to place, a movement which despite their bulk is surprisingly graceful.

Answer: calf

A baby hippopotamus is called a calf. It is conceived and born underwater following an eight-month gestation period. Guided by its mother, the newborn calf instinctively swims to the surface of the water to breathe. Hippopotamuses normally have just one calf at a time, although occasionally twins are born. Baby hippos are typically about 50 inches long - that's a big baby!

Answer: herbivorous

The hippopotamus is a herbivore, which means that it only eats plant material. Its main diet is grasses, which come from the grasslands which surround the rivers and lakes they inhabit. Each evening, once the temperature is cooler, the hippos emerge from the water and lumber off individually in search of food.

They can spend most of the night doing this, walking several miles in the process. Surprisingly, despite their bulk, they eat less than you might think, as they are not very active animals so do not need to consume a vast amount to give them the energy they need.

Answer: in family groups of males, females and babies

Hippos are very sociable animals and live in family groups of males, females and calves. There is one 'dominant' bull hippo, who mates with the females, although he will sometimes allow other males to do so. Typical communities consist of between 10-30 adults plus their offspring, but larger communities of up to a hundred are not unheard of. A family group of hippos is called either a herd, a pod or, most appropriately given their size, a bloat. The conservation status of the hippopotamus is listed as vulnerable. The chief concerns are poaching and loss of habitat.

Answer: forty to fifty years

A hippopotamus lives for around 40-50 years in the wild; in captivity they can live longer. A female hippo named Donna, who died in 2012, lived to the age of 60 in an Indiana zoo, and another female called Tanga lived in Munich Zoo, reaching the grand old age of 61, the oldest recorded age for a hippo.

Answer: False

No, no, a thousand times no! The hippo can be unpredictable and very aggressive if it feels threatened. Despite its short, stubby legs and huge bulk it can easily outrun a person over a short distance, reaching speeds of up to 19 miles per hour when in pursuit.

Despite its calm, even cute appearance, it is one of the most dangerous animals in Africa and is quite capable of killing a person, defending its territory to the utmost and attacking ferociously if provoked. Definitely an animal to approach with caution, if at all!