HIPPOPOTAMUS 299 
HIPPOPOTAMUS (Hippopotamus amphibius). 
The Hippopotamus, although nowadays a good deal scarcer than 
it used to be in Southern Africa, is still to be found in fair abundance 
in many of the larger rivers. In the Zambesi, where they are much 
more difficult to attack than in the smaller rivers of Mashonaland and 
that region, Hippos are plentiful, as also in the Chobe, Okavango, 
Cunene, Botletli, and Lake Ngami. A few still linger in the lower 
reaches of the Orange River, while from Zululand to the Zambesi 
mouth they are to be found in all the rivers flowing into the Indian 
Ocean. In many parts of Africa beyond the Zambesi, where, up to 
the present time, they have been much less persecuted, they are ex- 
tremely plentiful. The ivory of the Hippopotamus has nothing like the 
commercial value that it formerly had, when it was in much request for 
the manufacture of false teeth. The hide, however, is extremely valu- 
able, and is in incessant demand in almost every part of the African 
continent for the making of raw hide whips. As a sporting animal 
the Hippo has little to recommend it, and the white hunter, having 
killed two or three specimens, may be well advised to leave this vast 
amphibian in peace. 
HEIGHT at shoulder about 3 feet g inches. WEIGHT about 4 or 5 
tons. Adult male measures about 14 feet from snout to tip of tail. 
There is a smaller Hippopotamus (/7. “berzenszs) found only in 
Liberia, West Africa. HEIGHT at shoulder about 30 inches. LENGTH 
about 6 feet. 
Destribution—Rivers and Lakes of Africa. 
Length round _ | 
outside curve of Circumference. Habitat. | Owner. 
tusks. | 
— == bs Sal cea a —_ 
—51 9 (malformed) a J. Lamont. 
374 8 Shiré River. . | Comdr. A. T. Hunt, R.N. 
| 
