HIP'POPOT'AMUS (Lat., from Gk./n-71-071-6ra uos, hippopotamus, river-horse. from i'rros, hip pos, horse + rorakuSs, potamos. river). A huge, thick-skinned. almost aquatic. kind of mammal of tropical Africa, two living and ninny fossil species of which constitute the family Hippo potamid.r. This family is closely allied to the swine, and it would he more nearly accurate to call them 'river-hogs' rather than 'river-horses.' They differ trom the swine and peccaries, how ever. in having a broad rounded muzzle, with the nostril- superior and no trace of a terminal disk (see SWINE) : in having all the toes touch the ground and nearly equal in size; in the con tinual growth of the lower incisor teeth: and in other anatomical details. The family seems al ways to have been confined to the Old World; but remains of various specie: have been found in the Upper Tertiary rocks of Burma and Algeria. and others. nearer the modern type. in the Plio cene and later formations of India and of South ern Europe. Within the historic period, at least, the hippopotami have been restricted to Africa (unless one may believe, from biblical references to the 'behemoth' (q.v.), that it has inhabited Palestine since the origin of tradition), where it seems to have occupied all the larger lakes and rivers until locally exterminated by man. An ciently it possessed the whole Nile, and was killed by the early Egyptians by means of harpoons: hut for none have been seen below the cataracts. When white settlements began at the Cape of flood Hope, 'hippos' lived in the most southern of African rivers. but gradually di- appeared. until now the upper Limpopo marks the southern boundary of their habitat. They are likely to die out of the East African rivers speedily. but the endless marshes of the upper Nile and its tributaries. and the vast swamp,
and waterways of the Congo basin, will present° the animal indefinitely. These remarks refer to the familiar species (Hippopotamus amphibiusl, in addition to which there exists on the Guinea coast a second species (Hippopotamus Libericn sis), a pygmy in size and more swine-like in habits.
Tut: lommoN 111ProearAsn's. This next to the elephant. the bulkiest of land mammals. tffil males are from 12 to 14 or inure feet Ittng, stand nearly four feet high at the shoulder, and weigh about four tons. The body is elongated, barrel shaped, and the belly neatly touches the ground, while t he swollen, ugly head seems too heavy even tor the massive :leek. and the animals, when out he natter, usually rest the chin upon (melt other or some support. The body is carried upon short pig-like legs, having four toes upon each foot. each covered with 1t round. black hoof, and rest ing that upon the ground, but connected by welts. The skin is two inches thick in sonic places, is spongy, like that of a walrus. rough. warty, and covered with a network of tine and it varies in color in the male from dark leather brown to bluish gray, more or less spotted. The females usually are of lighter tint, and both sexes are lighter on the belly. The skin is naked except for the bristles on the muzzle, and a few tufts of short hair upon the sides of the head and neck, and on the ears and tail. it contains a great quantity of an oily substance which exudes from the pores; and under excitement this flows out copiously and is tinetured with blood, ing the 'bloody sweat' for which this beast is famous. The tail is short and laterally com pressed.