The Natural Red Sun Screen
HIPPOS (The Natural Red Sun screen)
Uganda Is Home to Thousands of Hippos
Hippopotamus is a Greek word meaning a River Horse. Hippos are known to be the world’s second largest land mammal, only the elephant is bigger but the world’s third heaviest mammal only the elephant and rhino weighing heavier. A fully grown up hippo can weigh between 1-3 tonnes. It can also be called a semi-aquatic animal because most of its habitat/ time is spent in water.
Hippos spend most of their time in water though they don’t know how to swim but they just bounce on water, however this is to shield them from the sun and they also produce a sun screen also to protect them from the too much heat of the sun, which at times is referred to as the blood sweat, it’s at this that we can refer to them as the Natural red Sun screen.
The time spent on land is mainly for grazing. This is majorly during night hours were the Hippos go to feed and they can consume up to about 75kg of vegetation/food per day and that’s majorly grass making it an herbivores animal. There feeding is majorly to maintain their body size.
However besides their size, hippos are truly fast animals that is to say faster than humans, a hippo can cover 30-40km per hour that’s when it is running on land/ground.
However much, herbivores animals are known to be harmless, it’s totally a different story on the side of the hippo. A hippo is noted to be a very dangerous animal if it’s provoked.
They also both reproduce and give birth in water. The male hippos under normal circumstances they are larger than the female and are referred to as bulls just like for the female are referred to as cows and the young one is a calf.
These can be found in many game parks within Uganda like Queen Elizabeth National Park along Kazinga Channel, Murchison falls National Park, Lake Mburo National Park, and Semiliki National Park. Come and have a great experience with Terrain Safaris as you set your sight on these wonderful creatures, as you observe, with great opportunities to photographs. Have a great experience in the wildernes. Terrain Safaris Limited
