Mother hippopotamus and her baby
Media
Part of The Young Citizen: The Magazine for Young People
- Title
- Mother hippopotamus and her baby
- Language
- English
- Source
- Young Citizen, 7 (9) September 1941
- Year
- 1941
- Subject
- Hippopotamus
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 314 THE YOUNG CITIZEN MOTHER HIPPOPOTAMUS AND HER BABY MOTHER HIPPOPOTAMUS spends much of her day in the water, often in herds of 20 to 40. Nearly all of her great body is under the water. She is much more at home in the water than on the land. At times she disappears beneath the water for 8 or 10 minutes, spouting and snorting when. she comes to the surface. Mother Hippopotamus often carries her baby upon her head or neck. There he stands while she swims and dives. The baby learns to swim before he learns to walk. The baby stays with his mother for several years. When it is night, Mother Hippopotamus· comes out of the water. She can not see very well, so she depends upon her sense_ of smell to guide her. She sriiffs her way to the nearest fields where she. eats rice, sugar-cane, water plants, or grasses. She often journeys 8 or 9 miles in search of good pasture. The home of Mother Hippopotamus is in the lakes and large rivers of central East Africa. This great animal is usual-· ly slow moving, but when she becomes angry, she is dangerous. A few years ago in one of the rivers of Uganda a hippopotamus not only overturned a boat, but killed one of the men by biti!Jg hill). Mother Hippopotamus has an enormous mouth. Her huge r'ed mouth · is furnished with large teeth-tusks in the lower jaw. She can close het large nostrils and short ears when under water.