10 Crazy Hippo Facts

Did you know that the hippopotamus is considered the most dangerous African animal? Get to know these river-dwelling giants with our interesting hippo facts.

10 Crazy Hippo Facts

1. Hippopotamus is an ancient Greek word meaning river horse, though the two species are not closely related.

2. Hippos are the third-largest land mammal on Earth. Only elephants and white rhinos outsize them.

3. Hippos spend roughly 16 out of every 24 hours in the water.

4. Hippos are almost exclusively herbivorous, though they have been seen feeding on the carcasses of other animals, including other hippos.

5. The most dangerous animal aside from humans, hippos kill roughly 500 humans per year–more than twice the number killed by lions.

6. For short bursts, a hippo can sprint on land at 20 mph–the speed of a fairly fast human sprint.

7. A fully grown hippo weighs between 1.5 and 4 tons (0.9-3.6 mt)

8. Between 29% and 87% of hippo attacks on humans are fatal. A human has better odds surviving a grizzly, shark, or crocodile encounter.

9. African big game hunting outfits offer hippopotamus hunts to those willing to pay for the experience.

10. Following Pablo Escobar's death in 1993, the hippos he kept in his menagerie of wild animals escaped into Colombia's waterways. There is now a colony of nearly 100 hippos living in the rivers outside Medellín, Colombia.