HIPPOPOTAMUS. 



HIPPOPOTAMI'S. 



Ito toad of tto boo.; tlMHMlJtfMtMDta- bmodmto 

 Udrl..mtb.IU>ino-r. the Tapir, and UM Bom. But rU pnn- 

 bl imatkart i to th. fnora of U great romuwnU ; though the 

 MT toad oftto bow ia much or* detocbod and more spherical, 

 awl UM k-wrr brad U much wMr, wpecuUU behind. These dif- 

 farms* will MM in dbtinpii^inp it frwn the femur of the Ox ; 

 ttol of UM OiranV, which, bring of UM HUD* siM, might more readily 

 >! for it, may to known by ito more approximated uprr 

 if irbtirrly Urrcr condyko, and the moie elevated and pro- 



organ is employed in extracting from the coarse and ill-prepared load 

 the greatest amount of nutritive matter. The stomach of a full-grown 

 otanius is raid to be capable of containing five or nix l'ii-h. Is, 

 and the large intestine is of a size commen'urate with such a on; 

 for it is stated to to eight inches in diameter. 'I h- Hippopotamus 

 mentioned by Mr. Burchell ('Travels in South Africa') was consi- 

 dered to to only half grown, but throe bimheln, at least, of half- 

 chewed vegetables were taken from its stomach and intentines. 

 The time of gestation of the Hippopotamus is stated to be nine 



Skull of Hippopotamus. 

 a, tern from above ; b. Ken from below ; r, lower jaw neon from above. 



J<iu internal edge of the lower articulating surface. The femur of 

 UM Hof more resembles that of the Hippopotamus in the upper part, 

 but much lew below ; and its dimensions prevent the possibility of a 

 nristairo The tabia U short and stout, almost boyond that of any 

 ottor quadruped, especially at the extremities. It approaches nearest 

 to that nf UM Ox, but the latter is more elongated, and diners in 

 oUMr nspecte. The tibU of the Hog is also more elongated in com- 

 lrison, and offers other discrepancies. The fibula is very slender, 

 aad U throofhoat r.ry distant from the tibia, except at the two 

 xtrcmitws. The mallcolar bone is ancbylosed to the lower extre- 

 mity. The tuius is framed principally on the plan of that of the 



months ; but this does not seem to be accurately ascertained. The 

 birth takes place on the land ; and on the slightest alarm both parent 

 aud young take to the water. Tbunberg, during his visit to Caffraria 

 (1773) was assured by an eye-witness that he, having watched. wlim 

 on a hunting party, one of these animals which had gone up from a 

 neighbouring river to calve, lay still with his company till the calf was 

 produced, when one of the party fired and shot the mother dead. 

 The Hottentots immediately rushed from their hfding-pluce to take 

 the calf alive, but its instinct saved it, for it made for the river, and 

 escaped. The male specimen now (1854) in the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society, Regent's Park, was with difficulty caught, though only two 

 days old. The food of the Hippopotamus consists of water-plant* 



Skeleton of Hippopotamus. 



UM <raafjtHr of 



<Mp.tH.or 



Uoatotto 



of UM teeth we are led to the inference that 

 obstoao. submitted to UM action of the 

 *rote.wd* must to verygreat in propor- 



!!?t!tl < ^!r?'!^*^!!?a?f* <""***** * bet principle for 

 M dividing, but not comminuting, the hard and 

 which form UM stapk food of UM animal The 

 ted ttot UM proems executed by them is more a 

 Tto food therefore when trsns- 

 but little alteration, and that 



.-- . 

 UM aioBMjeh hm 



and those which grow on the banks of the river* which it haunts. 

 The time of feeding is principally in the night, and these enormous 

 animals, when in the neighbourhood of cultivated lands, do incal- 

 culable damage, not only from the quantity that they actually consume, 

 but the still greater quantity that they spoil and lay waste by their 

 crushing bulk. As they are able to remain beneath the surface of 

 the water for some time, there must be some muscular arrangement 

 for closing the nostril, such as we see in the Seals. Haaselquist, on 

 the authority of ' a credible person ' who liv. d twelve years in K^yp*, 

 states : " 1, that the hide of a full-grown Hippopotamus is a load for 



