Hippos
Hippo is short for hippopotamus.
Hippopotamus is Greek for 'water or river horse'. But hippos are not related to horses at all. Their closest living relatives may be pigs or whales and dolphins.
Hippos live in rivers and lakes in Africa.
At night they go onto the land to eat grass and fruit.
They are made for life in the water: their eyes, ears, and nostrils are on top of their head.
They can see, hear, and breathe while most of their body is underwater.
Hippos don't float or swim. They move around in the water by pushing off the bottom of the river with their feet. If you saw it underwater, it would look like the hippo was walking or running.
Under the water, a hippo's nostrils and ears fold shut to keep water out. Hippos can hold their breath for up to 30 minutes.
Hippos need to protect their skin from the hot sun, so they spend a lot of the day in the water. When they are out of the water, hippos ooze a thick, red goo out of their skin. It is called "blood sweat" but it is not blood. The red goo works like sun cream.
A hippo grows big, pointy tusks. The hippo uses its tusks to defend itself against attackers.
A hippo's skull
By Raul654 - Darkened version of Image:Hippo skull.jpg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
A hippo may have to defend itself against a crocodile.
By Bjørn Christian Tørrissen - Own work by uploader, bjornfree.com. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.