Hippopotamus is Greek for �river horse,� and the an.... hippo year

Once ranging over the entire continent and beyond, hippos now live in eastern, central, and parts of southern Africa. Although often seen basking in the sun, hippos lose water rapidly through the skin and become dehydrated without periodic dips. Hippos, however, eat relatively little vegetation for their size (about 35 kg [80 pounds] per night), as their energy requirement is low because they are buoyed in warm water much of the time. Hippos do not chew cud but retain food for a long time in the stomach, where protein is extracted by fermentation digestion. As a result, hippos have long had a largely undeserved reputation as aggressive animals. Cows live in schools, but they are not permanently associated with other cows, though sometimes they maintain bonds with offspring for some years. Males mature at about 8 years of age, but dominant bulls more than 20 years old do most of the . Hippos were extinct in northern Africa by 1800 and south of and the by 1900. There remains a! demand for hippo teeth as a fine-grained that is easy to carve; it was once used to make false teeth. The pygmy hippo is less aquatic than its larger relative, although when pursued it hides in water. These groups diverged from other members of the order about 45 million years ago, but molecular studies suggest that hippos and (whales and dolphins) have an earlier common ancestor and may be more closely related. A fossil resembling today's pygmy hippo dates to the Early (23.8 million to 16.4 million years ago). Hippos eventually reached Europe and Asia, though climate changes and overhunting by humans exterminated all species outside Africa by the end of the (1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago). , The Long African Day (1972), features hippos in this classic work, which celebrates African wildlife. hippo year