Gamelexicon Hippo WIKI

The pairing of hippos takes place in the water. After a gestation period of about eight months, a single, about 50 kg heavy cub is born in the water, whose skin is still gray-pink colored. The hippo babies are almost always born during the rainy season in October and April, because at that time the mother finds a lot of juicy grass and can therefore also give enough milk. Immediately after giving birth away from the other hippos, the mother lifts the offspring with her muzzle in the air so that he can breathe. Since the little ones can soon hold their breath for up to 20 seconds, suckling takes place under water. When they are a few weeks old, the children return with the mother to the herd. There are real “mother-child groups” in which the females take turns looking after their offspring, who play with their young conspecifics. Way of life and behavior The gray giant are the only cloven-hoofed animals that spend most of their lives in the water. They are very sociable and live in herds. During the day, they sunbathe together in lakes or slow-flowing waters, and are only too happy to be visited by a small bird, the Madenhacker. He helps them, like many other African animals, with personal hygiene: he picks annoying vermin from the skin of his “customers”. Hippos are also excellent divers: not only can they stay underwater for up to six minutes, they can also close their nostrils. Only at night they go ashore and graze there.