The hippopotamus, whose scientific name is Hippopotamus amphibius, is one of the most aggressive animals in Africa It is characterized by its robust body large, very short legs, very small ears and huge fangs. It has an abundant layer of fat and skin with brown tones, however, reddish colors can be observed due to a lubricating substance secreted by glands in its skin to protect itself from the African sun. In addition, although it cannot be seen with the naked eye, they have small, very fine hairs on their body. As for its digestive system, which we will talk about later, it is worth noting the presence of a stomach divided into several chambers.
If you want to know more about their diet and find out what hippos eat, don't hesitate to read this article on our site.
Digestive system of hippos
Hippopotamuses have a complex digestive apparatus, since their stomach consists of several chambers or compartments, characteristic of herbivorous animals. However, hippos are not ruminants as one might think, since they do not regurgitate food from the stomach to be chewed again (chew the cud).
In the first chambers of the stomach, the fermentation of the food takes place and, later, after digestion in the remaining chambers, it passes to the intestines. These are longer than the intestines of carnivorous animals because plant matter is more difficult to decompose than animal matter, the process being even slower. The colon is short and they do not have a cecum.
Hippo Eating Habits
These animals in the wild, which are good swimmers and divers, usually rest during the day and feed at night, as they have night habitsThey have the ability to travel long distances to search for food, walking up to 10 kilometers out of the water and eating more than 50 kilograms of food in just one night.
These animals usually spend between five and six hours searching for food In addition, hippopotamuses have such a low metabolism that some individuals they have been able to survive several days and weeks without consuming any type of food. They can also carry out the feeding in the same lagoon or river where they spend most of their time, although most of their food is obtained outside these means during the night.
What do hippos eat?
Now, after knowing what their digestive system is like and what time of day they eat, how exactly do hippos feed? I mean, what do they eat? Although we might think that hippos eat plenty of meat due to their large size, they are actually herbivorous animals Their diet is mainly based on plant material, specifically short grasses, various plants and some fruits. In the lagoons they can be seen feeding on the lettuces that float in the water or on the plants that are rooted in the bottom. However, among his favorite foods on land, the following stand out:
- Panicum
- Cynodon
- Themeda
- Brachiara
- Setaria
- Chloris
It is true that, on occasions, these animals have come to feed on animal matter, so if you are wondering if hippos eat fish, the answer is normally not, but they can. It is believed that this type of feeding occurs very occasionally when the hippopotamus suffers from some type of stressful problem during times of great drought and when the density of the pastures is quite low. In any case, these infrequent habits do not have a clear explanation today, since there are different hypotheses regarding it.
Hippopotamuses get the water they need both from the plant matter they eat and from the rivers and lakes they inhabit. They are animals that need to be submerged in water to cool off, as they must be protected from the excessive African heat.
At this point, and after discovering that hippos are not omnivores, but herbivores, many people may wonder, then, why they tend to be so aggressive. We explain in this other article why hippos attack.
How does the feeding of hippos affect the flora?
If the number of hippos increases disproportionately, it can become a serious problem in the ecosystem. Excessive herbivory by hippopotamuses, together with other factors such as competition from other animals such as beavers, which also feed on plant matter in the environment, can affect numerous plant species, changing their population dynamics.
Fun facts about feeding hippos
Once we know what hippopotamuses eat, it is worth highlighting some curious facts about the diet of these large and impressive animals:
- They don't chew the food, they just gobble it up.
- They consume a small amount of vegetable matter compared to their large body size (between 1% and 1.5% of their own weight).
- They prefer short grasses for food.
- Your digestive system is not adapted to eating meat.
- The rare occasions they have been seen consuming animal flesh, it has been mostly carrion.
- They love fruit, like watermelons.
- Hippopotamus calves feed only on breast milk during the first months of life, since they are placental mammals.
- They can quickly dehydrate on land if they can't get water.
- They help themselves with their large and strong lips to uproot the grasses on which they feed.
- They are able to store food in their stomach for days to keep it as a reserve. This means that they can go weeks without eating.
- Some baby hippos have curious feeding habits, such as ingesting their mother's feces. They do this to strengthen the bacterial flora of your gastrointestinal tract.
- The hippo's mouth can open up to 160 degrees to feed and uses its large tusks to cut the grass.
