The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report Essay Example

they could find enough water and plenty of room to graze. Now, due to poachers and predation they are confined to protected areas, but they can still sometimes be seen in many major rivers and swamps.

Hippos need water that is deep enough to cover them, but it also has to be very close to a pasture. They must wallow in the water because their thin, hairless skin is vulnerable to overheating and dehydration. Hippos were once thought to sweat blood. Actually, hippos secrete a pinkish colored oil that helps them keep their skin moist in the hot African climate. Hippos are herbivores. They prefer the short grass of African plains to any other possible food. They normally eat up to eighty-eight pounds of this grass nightly, which they mow away a large patch at a time with their twenty-inch muscular lips.

Hippos spend most of their days in the water or wallowing in the mud, only coming up on land to feed at night. Hippos defecate in the water. Their dung provides essential basic elements for the food chain. Tiny microorganisms feed on it and then larger animals feed on those organisms. On land, hippos' large bodies make trails through the vegetation that other animals may use for easy access to water holes. Because hippos' favorite food is short grass, they keep these grasses well-trimmed which may help to prevent grass fires. Hippos are an important part of the African ecosystem.

If the hippos become extinct, and the likelihood grows more and more each day, the repercussions it may have on the fragile African ecosystem are tremendous. Imagine a brush fire consuming acres of previously-livable land under

the hot African sun. These people have no way to put out fires like we do here in the U.S.. The fires in California were barely maintainable. In short, if the hippos die, everything dependent on the hippo and it's way-of-life also suffers.

Bibliography

1. Brust, Beth W. Zoobooks: Hippos. San Diego: Wildlife Education, Ltd., 1989.
2. Estes, Richard. The Safari Companion. Simon & Schuster, 1991.
3. MacDonald, David (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Vol. 2. London: George, Allen & Unwin, 1984.
4. Redmond, Ian. "Africa's Four Legged Whale," Wildlife Conservastion. Jan.-Feb. 1991, pp 60-69.