Meet - a pygmy hippopotamus!

Dwarf behemoth (referred to as the Liberian, Latin Hexaprotodon liberiensis) belongs to the family of behemoths. Native places - Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone. If for us a pygmy hippopotamus (see the photo in the article) is still a curiosity, then in those places it is an object of hunting. It is for this reason that the animal is on the verge of extinction.

Description

A mammal is a herbivore. The way of life is semi-aquatic. In comparison with their closest (and only) relatives - hippos ordinary - these animals do not stray into schools, preferring privacy, are not inclined to protect the developed territory.

Pygmy hippopotamus is a pygmy with a relatively small mass (250 kg on average) and not particularly impressive in size (up to 2 m in length and 0.7 m at the withers). This is the height of the royal mastiff, the giant in the world of dogs. But if the latter is the personification of beauty and harmony, then the pygmy hippopotamus appears as an amusing elongated black barrel on the legs. His skin is almost black (or dark brown) and shiny, as if greased. In fact, such a gloss gives the secretion secreted by the cutaneous glands (natural protection from the drying of the integument).

For the first time the mention of this funny animal appeared in the late 17th century in the book of Olferd Dapper, which tells of travels in Africa. It was about a big and black pig with big teeth, destroying everything in its path that came across.

History of research

All this time, to the civilized world, scary stories also came from the Liberians themselves. Ostensibly in the jungle there lives a very dangerous "ningbwe". And there, according to rumors, there resembles a dwarf rhino like him. Strange bones caused confusion among scientists - in shape the remains could belong to a hippopotamus, but what about the dimensions? Zoologists agreed on a common opinion: the bones belong to an extinct behemoth. The remains were under the glass of a paleontological museum.

However, Samuel Morton, then Vice President of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, and simultaneously a natural scientist, physician and simply a great animal lover, stated in absentia: An animal is the middle link between a pig and a hippopotamus. A dispute began that could last indefinitely until a live dwarf hippo was brought to the zoo! True, he could not stand the heavy road, soon died.

In Liberia in search of a strange animal sent Johann Buttikofer (zoologist from Sweden). It is thanks to his research that we have today's data on the animal. To the meager information since that time, almost nothing is added. The study of the animal in his homeland proved to be inconvenient. Only in recent years it began to appear occasionally in zoos.

Content in captivity

Is it possible to keep a dwarf hippopotamus at home? Yes. However, in addition to creating special conditions, it will also require constant vigilance: a dwarf hippopotamus is by nature not aggressive, but extremely unbalanced. He can rush, knock down and cause serious injuries with his dvenadtsatantsantimrovymi fangs. The legs are short, the head is relatively small, with small ears and small eyes. But the nostrils of the hippopotamus are large - thanks to them, it breathes freely, being in the water. All of his poor clothes are bunches of hard hair on a short tail, ears and lips.

The pygmy hippopotamus has managed to live and even reproduce in captivity, but the population is still low. Pregnancy lasts seven months, the newborn baby weighs about 7 kg and looks like a pig. The female gives birth on land (an ordinary hippopotamus - in water, at the bottom).

Hippo-dwarf is not very sociable and leads a rather secretive way of life. Active only in the dark.

How much can a pygmy hippopotamus cost? The price of this animal is not advertised anywhere. The fact is that the hippo-dwarf is listed in the Red Book, and therefore its sale is prohibited.