A hippo may look funny when it throws its head back for a bucktooth-baring yawn, but it’s no laughing matter. Yawning is a sign of aggression among the species.
The Greeks named hippos “water horses,” but their closest relatives are probably whales, pigs or dolphins.
To protect themselves from the sun and heat, hippos create their own SPF in the form of a mucous secretion, grossly named “blood sweat” due to its red color.
Hippos spend about 16 hours each day in water but their dense bodies keep them from swimming and floating. Instead, they move around by pushing off the bottom of the river or sticking to shallow water.
Hippos are the third-largest land mammal, only topped by elephants and white rhinos.
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