Species profile
Hippopotamus hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
VU · Vulnerable — Vulnerable — high risk of extinction in the wild
About this species
Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus hippopotamus) is part of the curated SpeciesWatch catalogue and is classified as Vulnerable. Hippos cannot swim or float — they move along river bottoms in powerful leaps and can hold their breath for around five minutes. Its recorded population direction is decreasing, so the category needs to be read alongside continuing losses of individuals or local populations.
Habitat, behaviour and ecological role
This profile associates the species with freshwater, savanna. These labels summarise environments used during different stages of its life rather than drawing an exact range boundary. Their skin secretes a red, oily substance that acts as sunscreen, moisturiser and antibiotic all at once — the blood sweat of ancient legends. Its anatomy and behaviour are responses to those environments, while movement can connect distant places requiring different forms of management.
Why this species is at risk
Despite their calm image, hippos are among Africa's most dangerous large animals, fiercely defending their waterways and calves. The catalogue records 3 principal pressures for this profile: Poaching, Habitat loss, Human-wildlife conflict. They should not be treated as isolated causes. Habitat change, exploitation, pollution, disease and climate stress can reinforce one another, while the importance of each pressure varies between regions and through time.
Conservation outlook
Protecting and reconnecting habitat is a priority, together with infrastructure planning that keeps feeding, breeding or migration routes functional. Direct protection needs to combine enforcement with conflict prevention, demand reduction and local benefits that make coexistence viable. Actions need long-term monitoring and revision as evidence changes; a positive intervention in one place does not by itself represent recovery across the species.
Editorial review: 2026-08-21
Threat factors
Known occurrences
Dots are georeferenced occurrence records from OBIS (marine) and GBIF (global), not individual animals and not a complete range map. Up to 500 recent API results are cached; the profile renders at most 500 points.
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