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Description
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water; typically resurfacing to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes. The process of surfacing and breathing is subconscious: a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking up. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippos occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal, by opening their mouths wide, their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fishes. This is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleaning, while the fish receive food. Although hippos lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and they are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown. Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 m (270 yds) in length, and containing 10 females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos. Info source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopot… ========= The photo was taken during January 2016 at Mabula Private Game Reserve, Rooiberg, Limpopo, South Africa.

Description
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water; typically resurfacing to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes. The process of surfacing and breathing is subconscious: a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking up. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippos occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal, by opening their mouths wide, their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fishes. This is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleaning, while the fish receive food. Although hippos lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and they are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown. Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 m (270 yds) in length, and containing 10 females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos. Info source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopot… ========= The photo was taken during January 2016 at Mabula Private Game Reserve, Rooiberg, Limpopo, South Africa.