Posted on April, 21 2004

Hippopotamuses, also called hippos, are gregarious, living in groups of up to 40 animals. Hippos average 3.5 metres (11 ft) long, 1.5 metres (5 ft) tall at the shoulder, and weigh from 1,500 kg to 3,200 kg (3,300 to 7,000 lb). They are approximately the same size as the White Rhinoceros, and experts are split on which is the next largest land animal after the elephant. Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives, whereas the females reach a maximum weight at around the age of 25.

Females are smaller than their male counterparts, and normally weigh no more than 1,500 kg. The value given above of 3,200 kg is often quoted as being the upper limit of weight for a male hippo. However, larger specimens than this have been documented, including one of which weighed almost five tonnes. Even though they are a bulky animal, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land.

Hippos are now found in the rivers of Uganda, Sudan, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia, west to Gambia as well as in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia). A separate population is in Tanzania and Mozambique. The less familiar pygmy hippopotamus of West Africa, Hexaprotodon (Choeropsis) liberiensis, exists in two populations. One ranges in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. The other population, with a different shape to the skull, ranged until recently in the Niger Delta but may now be extinct.

In 2005, the population of hippos in Democratic Republic of the Congo's Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 individuals from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s, raising concerns about the viability of that population. This decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War. The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers and local militia groups.

The poachers hunt due to hunger but also for money. A three-tonne hippo is worth thousands of dollars. The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but when the meat arrives unannounced in markets, it sells so fast that it is difficult for the WWF officers to track. Conservationists warn that the hippo may soon be extinct in Congo.