Animals / Mammal

Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus amphibius · Hippopotamidae

The hippopotamus, often shortened to hippo, further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος).

Where the Hippopotamus lives

Recorded in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Uganda, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Benin (Africa).

Most records fall in Mpumalanga, Rift Valley, KwaZulu-Natal, North-West, Arusha and Limpopo.

See the Hippopotamus’s range on the globe

Conservation status

Vulnerable (VU). At risk: it could become endangered. Categories are the IUCN Red List as republished by GBIF.

Sources

The range is a density of 13,248 georeferenced GBIF records, not an expert-drawn map. Description from Wikipedia.