The following dimensions of the female hippopotamus at the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, may enable those who are curious in the matter to form some notion of the progressive growth of the animal—at least in a state of confinement—when young:
| On its arrival, July 22, 1854. | At present, Jan., 1856. | |||||||
| From nose to tip of tail | 8 | ft. | 4 | in. | 10 | ft. | 1 | in. |
| Circumference of body | 7 | 1 | 8 | 9 | ||||
| Height at shoulder | 3 | 5 | 3 | 10 | ||||
The hippopotamus, when in the water—I won’t say its “native element,” for it seems to belong as much to the land as the deeps—swims and dives like a duck, and, considering its great bulk and unwieldiness of form, in a manner perfectly astonishing. When on terra firma, however, what with its dumpy legs and the weight they have to support, its progress is any thing but rapid.
“The hippopotamus, amidst the flood
Flexile and active as the smallest swimmer,
But on the bank ill-balanced and infirm.”
Even were the beast to charge—provided the locality was tolerably open—a man would have no great difficulty in getting out of his way. It is seldom met with at any considerable distance from water, for which it instantly makes when disturbed.
The hippopotamus is an herbaceous animal. Its chief food, in the selection of which it appears rather nice, consists of grass, young reeds, and bulbous succulent roots.
When the hippopotamus is located near cultivated districts, it is very destructive to plantations of rice and grain. Mr. Melly, in his description of the Blue and White Nile, informs us that the inhabitants of a certain island found themselves so plagued by these animals that they were obliged to apply for troops to drive them away, which was responded to by a hundred soldiers being dispatched in pursuit of the marauders. Mr. Burckhardt, again, in his travels in Nubia, tells us that in Dongola, the “barnick” (the Arabic name for hippopotamus) is a dreadful torment on account of its voracity, and the want of means on the part of the natives to destroy it. During the day it remains in the water, but comes on shore at night, destroying as much by the treading of its enormous feet as by its voracity.
The ravages of the hippopotamus would appear to be an old grievance, for Sir Gardner Wilkinson, when speaking of the ancient Egyptians, says: “Though not so hostile to man as the voracious crocodile, it was looked upon as an enemy, which they willingly destroyed, since the ravages it committed at night in the fields occasioned heavy losses to the farmer.”