the hippopotamus is the world's deadliest large land mammal killing around 500 people annually in africa their height is about 1.6 meters and their weight is about 3 200 kilograms these creatures are known to be aggressive and territorial they are mostly herbivores but can be dangerous to humans if they feel threatened they are great swimmers and can stay submerged for up to five minutes with their eyes ears and nostrils on the top of the head hippos can hear see and breathe while most of their body is underwater they can even sleep underwater using a reflex that
allows them to bob up take a breath and sink back down without waking up yet despite all these adaptations for life in the water hippos can't swim and they can't even float their bodies are far too dense to float so they move around by pushing off from the bottom of the river or simply walking along the riverbed in a slow motion gallop
