24 Wild Hippopotamus Facts

By James Israelsen, Associate Writer

Published May 22, 2023

Hippopotamus is an ancient Greek word meaning river horse, despite the fact that the two animals are not closely related._[1]
Hippos are the third-largest land mammal on Earth. Only elephants and white rhinos outsize them._[1]
Hippos spend roughly 16 out of every 24 hours in the water._[1]
Like octopus, the word hippopotamus is derived from ancient Greek, rather than Latin, meaning its plural is hippopotamuses, rather than hippopotami just as the correct plural for octopus is octopuses._[6]
At birth, a baby hippo weighs 50 to 110 lbs (23 to 50 kg)._[1]
Hippos are almost exclusively herbivorous, though they have been seen feeding on the carcasses of other animals, including other hippos._[1][5]

Hitching a ride

Baby hippos stay with their mother and nurse for 8 months. It takes 5 to 7 years for the calf to reach maturity._[1]
Hippos use sub-sonic vocalizations to communicate with each other._[1]
A fully grown hippo weighs between 1.5 and 4 tons (0.9–3.6 mt)._[4]
Baby hippos can suckle on land or—by closing their nostrils and ears—underwater._[4]
Following drug lord Pablo Escobar's death in 1993, the hippos he kept in his menagerie of wild animals escaped into Colombia's waterways. There is now a colony of nearly 100 hippos living in the rivers outside Medellín, Colombia._[1]
Between 29% and 87% of hippo attacks on humans are fatal. A human has better odds of surviving a grizzly, shark, or crocodile encounter._[5]
In the wild, hippos have a lifespan of up to forty years._[4]
Scottish hunter Roualeyn George Gordon-Cumming (1820–1866) travelled the continent of Africa for five years and wrote of the violent encounters his party often had with hippos._[2]

...the wondrous hippopotamus, an animal with which I was extremely surprised and delighted...being a larger, a more lively, and in every way a more interesting animal than certain writings had led me to expect.

- Roualeyn George Gordon-Cumming, Esq.

For short bursts, a hippo can sprint on land roughly as fast as an average human._[4]
Hippos live in family groups, variously referred to as pods, schools, bloats, or sieges._[1]
A hippo's jaws can open to 180 degrees, and their bite strength is ten times that of a human._[5]
Annually, hippopotamuses kill more than twice as many humans as do lions._[5]
A hippo's eyes, ears, and nostrils are placed high on its head, making it easy to swim with only a small part of its head above water._[4]

They are far more graceful in water than on land

The signature "wheeze honk" made by hippopotamuses is so loud that it can be heard from a half-mile away._[1]
Hippos are the most dangerous mammals in the world, second only to humans._[5]
Rising water levels in Kenya's Lake Naivasha, and economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to many fatal clashes between humans and hippos in the lake in 2021._[5]
Hippo attacks in locations around the world have led to calls for culling local hippo populations—something that locals often resist._[1][5]
African big game hunting outfits offer hippopotamus hunts to those willing to pay for the experience._[3]