About hippos...

Hippo is short for hippopotamus, one of the largest, noisiest and most aggressive animals on earth.  Their big name comes from the Greek language and it means ‘water horse or ‘river horse’ – even though hippos are not at all related to horses. There are two plural words for hippopotamus: hippopotomamuses and hippopotomai   Both are correct.

Hippos inhabit swamps and rivers in sub-Saharan Africa.  They must keep their special skin from drying out in the hot sun. Hippos are too massive to float or swim but hippos love waddling – but don’t let that waddling fool you – a hippo it isn't as slow as it looks. Hippos can run faster than humans through water, and can run up to nearly twenty miles per hour on land! Hippos are aggressive animals, and have been known to fight one another for territory. They can also roar as loudly as a lion.

Meet the hippo...

"Well, Hello there, friend!  Peace and Love.  Welcome to my side of the river. Some people say I’m a hippie, but why use labels?  We’re all one, I always say.  You…me... the plants…the stars….we’re just matter.  What matters? (Laughs) Peace, love and hippos.

Now, most of my hippo friends aren’t like me – they’ll fight over whose land is whose, and they’ll  get angry if they think you’re intruding. Really angry.  But me, I like to go with the flow.  Why don’t you come with me and we’ll go for a swim. We’ll just go rollin’ on the river for a while.  It’ll be groovy."