🦛Hippopotamus
Het nijlpaard (Hippopotamus amphibius) is de grootste en algemeenste soort uit de familie van de nijlpaarden (Hippopotamidae). De andere soort is het dwergnijlpaard (Hexaprotodon liberiensis). Het is tevens een van de grootste landzoogdieren. Slechts de olifanten en sommige neushoornsoorten zijn groter. De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd in 1758 gepubliceerd door Carl Linnaeus in de tiende editie van Systema naturae. Het nijlpaard is de enige recente soort van het geslacht Hippopotamus, dat onder andere ook enkele uitgestorven soorten uit Madagaskar en de Pleistocene Europese soort Hippopotamus antiquus omvat. Ondanks de naam is het dier niet nauw verwant met het paard, maar eerder met walvissen.
Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
IUCN Red List assessment, 2017.
- Body mass
- 2,640 kg
- Body length
- 5.05 m
- Shoulder height
- 1.47 m
- Top speed
- 24 km/h
- Bite force
- not recorded
- Maximum lifespan
- 61 years
Everything we know about the Hippopotamus
Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.
Body mass2,640 kgCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 3,750 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length5.05 mCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Shoulder height1.47 maverage1.44–1.5 m · range across sexesOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Species-level value synthesised as the mean of: female, male.
By sex
- Male1.5 mKlingel 2013, Mammals of Africa VIHeight at the shoulder.
- Female1.44 mKlingel 2013, Mammals of Africa VIHeight at the shoulder.
Top speed24 km/hDetails ↓Hide ↑
Sprint over a short distance, not a sustained pace. On land. Compilations give 24.36 and 25.0 km/h, but no hippo has ever been properly timed; these trace back to Garland's 1983 table.
Source: Bejan & Marden 2006, J Exp Biol 209:238 and Christiansen 2002, Zool J Linn Soc 136:685; compiled in Hirt et al. 2017, Nat Ecol Evol 1:1116, Supplementary Data · see citation
Brain mass631 gCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Maximum lifespan61 yearsCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 61 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length9.99 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Age at maturity5.6 yearsCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Gestation235 daysCOMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 234 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size1COMBINEOther figures ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Figures vary
- 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic levelHerbivoreCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Activity cycleNocturnalCOMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Population density4.76 per km²COMBINEDetails ↓Hide ↑
Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0
Volume l2,640 LaverageDetails ↓Hide ↑
Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.
average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.
Not recorded for Hippopotamus yet: bite force.
Family tree
- kingdomAnimalia
- ›phylumChordata
- ›classMammalia
- ›orderArtiodactyla
- ›familyHippopotamidae
- ›genusHippopotamus
- ›speciesHippopotamus amphibius
- classMammals · Mammalia
- orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
- familyHippopotamidae
- genusHippopotamus
All 15 branches ↓Fewer branches ↑
- kingdomMetazoa
- phylumChordata
- subphylumCraniata
- subphylumVertebrata
- superclassGnathostomata
- superclassSarcopterygii
- superclassTetrapoda
- classMammals · Mammalia
- subclassTheria
- superorderLaurasiatheria
- orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
- suborderWhippomorpha
- infraorderAncodonta
- familyHippopotamidae
- genusHippopotamus
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