15 Fascinating Baby Hippo Facts That Will Warm Your Heart

The world is full of cute animals, and baby animals are especially adorable. One of the most charming is the baby hippo with all its big eyes and chubby face. But looks aren’t all that makes baby hippos especially cute because they exhibit some crucial but goofy behaviors during their childhood. 

Size Matters

Baby hippos need a good food supply from the get-go. At birth, a baby hippo can weigh a whopping 50 to 110 pounds, depending on the species. This large birth weight is necessary as it provides the calf with ample energy and strength for a life spent mostly in the water and ensuring their survival in the wild.

Born Swimmers

Unlike many other mammals, baby hippos take to water just like a duck! These young ones, particularly pygmy hippos, are capable of swimming almost immediately after they are born. Having this skill early on is vital as their habitat includes both land and water, and they spend the most time in water for skin protection and temperature control.

Underwater Training

A newborn hippo may already be a pro at swimming, but a mother hippo still acts as a swimming trainer. She will expertly guide her baby to the surface for air and will gently nudge it upwards every few minutes, ensuring it doesn’t drown. This type of training usually lasts until the baby hippo is fully capable of maneuvering underwater on its own, typically around eight months of age.

Shaking Things Up

Hippos and a rare few other mammals like to shake their tails when they’re going potty. This is their amusing but practical way of marking their territory and paths! These charming mammals have a peculiar poop-spraying tactic where they wave their tail while doing business, effectively spreading their scent and making their presence known.

Squeaky Talk

Young hippos express themselves by grunting, wheezing, and squeaking. They also use non-verbal cues, such as body language and marking trails by waving their tails. This combination of auditory and visual communication methods contribute to how they interact and socialize with each other.

A Life of Leisure

Baby hippos enjoy a life of relative leisure compared to their adult counterparts. The most crucial part of a calf’s day is playing and swimming with other young hippos under the watchful eyes of their mothers. This fun time also serves as an essential learning period as baby hippos refine their swimming skills and learn how to interact with others in their social group.

Teeth Sprouting Early

Though they may look downright adorable with their chubby proportions, baby hippos are front-runners in dental development. From the age of just two months, baby hippos begin to sprout their first teeth, particularly the incisors and canines that hippos are most recognizable for. 

Early Independent Eaters

Within weeks of birth, baby hippos start experimenting with grass, leaves, ferns, and fruits. The change to eating solids is vital for speedy growth and development. However, they do continue nursing until they’re about eight months old. This blend of milk and solid foods accelerates their overall growth and prepares them for adulthood.

Self-Pacifying

When baby hippos are not nursing, they often suckle on their own toes for comfort. It’s their personal soothing mechanism, a behavior they tend to continue into adulthood. Even mature hippos have been observed using nearby logs or branches for the same purpose – a behavior not unlike that of humans relying on a comforting mechanism when under stress.

Sunbathing Skills

Even though they spend significant time in the water, it doesn’t necessarily mean they avoid the sun’s rays. Baby hippos are like taking sunbathing breaks on the banks of rivers and lakes because they have a unique adaptation to help protect their skin from the sun’s heat. They produce a red, oily substance, often referred to as ‘blood sweat,’ which acts as a sunscreen. 

Playful Siblings

Much like human siblings, young hippos often engage in rough-and-tumble play, spending their afternoons chasing each other. Playtime allows them to learn important survival skills while strengthening their sibling bonds. The bonds they form usually stay for the duration of their lives.

Sixth Sense

Hippo calves possess an innate sense of direction that helps them move through their watery habitat without getting lost. Their sense of direction directly contributes to their survival, helping them go back to their mothers or their group (known as a ‘bloat’), even when they wander away to explore their surroundings. 

Ramming Speed

A baby hippo can outrun a human with relative ease, and it’s agile enough to avoid most predators it faces in the wild. They can reach speeds of up to around 20 mph, which, although not blisteringly fast compared to zebras or cheetahs, is still plenty fast seeing how they weigh roughly 1,000 pounds at 5 months of age. 

Incredible Growth Spurts

Baby hippos grow very quickly. From a weight of about 110 lbs at birth, these little fellows can gain up to 88 lbs in just a single month! That’s roughly 3 pounds per day. They’ve evolved to be this way because of predators and other hippos (which are the biggest threats a hippo can face). 

Recognizing Mother’s Voice

In an incredibly short amount of time after being born, baby hippos can distinguish their mother’s voice from that of other hippos. This is an essential survival skill in the wild where identifying their mom correctly amid a large group can keep the calf safe as it will always be able to find its mom for protection. 

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