Phil Jones, age 7, of Jamestown, N.Y., for his question:
HOW BIG DOES A HIPPOPOTAMUS GET?
A wild hippopotamus living near a river in central, southern or western Africa may weigh as much as 5,800 pounds. He's the third largest animal that lives on land with only the elephant and rhinoceros weighing more.
The large animal has a huge head on a barrel shaped body that is supported by short legs. He stands about five feet tall and ranges from 12 to 15 feet in length. His length doesn't include a tail that is about two feet long.
The word hippopotamus comes from two Greek words which mean river horse. But the huge animal is more closely related to the hog than he is to the horse.
There are two kinds of hippopotamuses: the river hippopotamus or common hippopotamus and the pygmy hippopotamus. The pygmy is smaller and rarer than the river hippopotamus.
Each of the hippoptamus' four feet have four webbed toes. The animal spends his day resting in a river's water, eating water plants and sunning himself on sandbanks. At night he goes up on the land to feed on fruit, grass, leaves and vegetables.
Sometimes hippopotamuses wander for miles near the riverbank, grazing as they go. Each hippopotamus eats about 130 pounds of vegetable matter every day.
The eyes of a river hippopotamus stick out from its head. The position of the eyes, ears and nostrils enables the animal to see, hear and breathe with most of its head underwater. They have a good sense of smell but only fair vision.
The animals are covered with thick, brownish gray skin. They have no hair except for a few bristles on the head and tail.
Special glands in the skin give off a clear, pink or red oily fluid. This fluid keeps the skin from getting too dry. The reddish color of the fluid led to the mistaken belief that the hippopotamus sweat blood.
River hippopotamuses live in herds of from five to 30 animals.
A female carries her young inside her body for about seven and a half months before it is born. She almost always has only one baby at a time, but sometimes she may have twins.
A baby hippopotamus will weigh about 100 pounds at birth. It can swim almost immediately and usually nurses on its mother's milk underwater. When it is about four or six months old, the baby will learn to eat grass.
A young hippopotamus will often climb up on its mother's back and sun itself as she floats on the water. On land, the mother keeps her baby close by. If the youngster wanders away, she butts it as punishment.
A female hippopotamus has her first baby when she is five or six years old.
Hippopotamuses live about 30 years in the natural surroundings and about 50 years if a zoo is home.
A hippopotamus' mouth can open to a width of three or four feet. The animal often opens its mouth wide to show its powerful tusks and challenge its enemies.