Baby hippos are the easiest to spot, since they have to rise up to the top to breathe about every 30 seconds. Adults can stay submerged for 6-15 minutes. Soon after we arrived in this shallow part of the lake a baby hippo emerged from below like a submarine. Baby hippos can weigh up to 120 pounds when they re born. We started the engine and backed up, knowing that Mama hippos protecting their babies can be the most dangerous kind of hippos.
Hippos do almost everything in the water, including giving birth, mating, and resting.
Hippos have developed special senses that allow them to live their life in the water. Even when submerged up to their ears, they can hear what s going on both above and below the water. Some scientists, like our Online Expert Dr. Bill Barklow, think that hippos have two separate hearing systems. They have a regular ear for above the water, and a bone in their jaw that vibrates to transmit sound below water. Dr. Barklow has also found that hippos have a complex communication system which he calls chain chorusing, in which a herd can transmit a message long distance in a very short time by relaying the message among small groups in the same herd.