The opinion is that, although hippos live mainly in water, they are not able to swim. We decided to check if such a judgment is correct.
That because of their mass, the hippos cannot swim, write entertainment Portals, magazines About travel and Collections Entertaining facts. Service users are interested in the topic questions And answers. Some authors CheckThat hippos do not know how to swim only "in the usual sense of the word." It objects to this conviction magazine “Around the world,” reporting that the hippos are “born swimmers”. The authors agree with this statement magazine "Biology".
Hippo - large herbivores Mammalsliving in Africa south of Sahara. This is the third largest ground mammals after elephants and white rhinos - males can reach 5 m in length and weigh up to 4,500 kg, while females weigh up to 1360 kg. Despite the clumsy appearance, the hippos can develop speeds up to 35 km/h during the run. These animals spend most of the day in water or in mud - although their skin is very thick, it dries easily and burns under the scorching rays of the sun.
It is not surprising that the body of the hippopotamus is adapted to a long stay in water and under water. The nostrils and eyes of the animal are located on the highest part of the head, therefore, being almost completely immersed in the water, it can breathe and see. For comfort with complete immersion, the hippo tightly presses the ears and Closes Nostrils. The volume of the lungs to him Enough 30 min. finding under water, but usually it pops up every 5 minutes. The subconscious reflex allows even a sleeping hippo to regularly rise to the surface behind the next portion of air. They mate and give birth to the cubs of hippos also under water.
However, usually the hippo does not hold in the water column, preferring to be (and move) along the bottom of the reservoir. Firstly, the usual habitat of these animals is the shores of shallow reservoirs and swamps, sometimes the mouths of rivers, where there are simply no deep enough for swimming areas. Secondly, the mass of the hippo is so great that to maintain the body in the water would require huge energy costs. Most characteristic The way of moving the hippo in this environment is a gallop with an elongated off -site phase, after strong repulsion from the bottom with one foot, the hippo is literally “in flight” for some time. This method allows you to develop speeds up to 0.47 m/s, that is, in 5 minutes, which the hippo is usually under water, it can overcome 141 m.
But are hippos capable of swimming in the same sense as, for example, people or dogs, that is, move parallel to the surface of the water, sorting through the limbs? This was tried to find out scientists from West-Chester University (USA), who Observing Behind the two female hippos in a pool 2.4 m deep and fixed all their movements on the camera. For two hours, not one of them began to swim. At the same time, the researchers noted that their observation is not a guarantee that hippos cannot move in this way.
In favor of the ability of the hippos for swimming, the fact that their area includes the islands. In particular, a large population of these animals It lives on the Bizhagosh archipelago, located 48 km from the west coast of Africa. The man certainly did not import hippos on ships there, therefore, they somehow got there themselves. Average depth in the archipelago area It is 20 m, which is atypical for the habitat of hippos. It is unlikely that the ancestors of these animals have made such a long way along the bottom, periodically popping up after a sip of air.
In 2014, Italian scientist Paolo Mazza Published An article entitled "If the hippos are not able to swim, then how did they populate the islands?" In the text, he emphasizes that zoologists have not yet agreed regarding the ability of a hippo to swim. In the scientific literature there are single descriptions of floating hippos - in particular, in 1968, researcher Mulji Modha indicatedthat he met a hippo on the central island on Lake Turkan in Kenya. This island is 5 km from the coast, and the depth of the surrounding waters is 50 m, that is, the animal could hardly reach the bottom there. However, the biologist specialized in crocodiles and left an extremely meager description of the hippo. Mazza also draws attention to the fact that somehow the hippos from time to time appear on the islands of the mafia and Zanzibar lying 18 km and 20 km from the mainland, respectively.
Greek researchers Studied The available evidence came to the conclusion that young animals should be more successful in swimming, because they, unlike adults, have swimming membranes. In general, zoologists believe, the cubs carried away with water, most likely will be able to stay afloat and get to some island, and if there are several such animals, they will be able to establish a self-reproducing colony on it. At the same time, researchers note that full -fledged documented cases are still not enough to finally answer the question whether the hippo can swim. One thing is clear: the swimming is definitely not the main way to move these animals, and it is unlikely that they swim somewhere by their will.
Image on the cover: Image by Michael Siebert from Pixabay
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