R.I.P. Donna

[MARIS61]

A Tip of the cap (and my favorite holiday tune) to a great old gal:

Donna, the world’s oldest Nile hippo in captivity, who gave birth to 8 babies and lived through 15 presidential elections, died this week at 61.

“It is with great sadness for us to announce that Donna, the world’s oldest living Nile hippopotamus in captivity, was humanly euthanized this morning due to her declining quality of life caused by her debilitating severe arthritis,” the director of the Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden in Evansville, Indiana said in an August 1 press release.

Though Donna will be “greatly missed” by her caretakers, she lived years longer than expected — most hippos live no more than 50 years in captivity, as opposed to only 40 in the wild.

"She was loved by so many people," a representative from Mesker Park, where Donna lived for more than 5 decades, told TODAY.com. "We would usually have a birthday party for her in the summer because she became quite well-known."


[video=youtube;49LAPkV9xJg]

http://animaltracks.today.msnbc.msn...lds-oldest-hippo-in-captivity-dies-at-61?lite

 

[jlprk]

When I saw the title, I thought you were 2 months late on this.

 

[Denny Crane]

It was a slow and agonizing death.

 

[MARIS61]

http://www.funnyordie.com/slideshows/e58eea3557/completely-true-facts-about-hippos

The Hippopotamus is the 3rd largest animal after elephants and rhinos. There are 2 species of hippo. The large or common hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius), is found in East Africa, south of the Sahara. The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) comes from West Africa, and is rare. The common hippo can be 13 feet long and 5 feet tall, weighing up to 3 ½ tons (7000 pounds). The pygmy only weighs 440 to 600 pounds and is 4.9 to 5.7 feet long. Not as much is known about the pygmy hippo.

With no sweat glands, hippos keep cool in the water or in mud. But they do secrete a red fluid that helps them avoid sunburn. While most of its body is underwater, a hippo can hear, see, and breathe, since its eyes, ears, and nostrils are on the top of its head and nose. When completely underwater, its nose and ears close automatically.

Hippos live in herds of 10 to 30. The dominant male can mate will all the females in the herd. If challenged, a male hippopotamus will fight using its long canine tusks. These teeth can grow a foot long.

A hippopotamus is born underwater. The mother helps her baby to the surface to breathe. Hippos bear single young. Calves weigh 55 to 120 pounds and nurse underwater. Mother hippos protect them from lions, leopards, crocodiles and male hippos. Sometimes calves will rest on their mother’s back.

Hippos mature at an average age of 7 (males) to 9 (females) years and have a life expectancy of about 45 years. On top they are brownish gray and underneath pinkish. Hippos have good sight, sense of smell, and hearing.

The name hippopotamus comes from 2 Greek words that mean river horse. These animals are aggressive and not afraid of people.

Fun Hippopotamus Facts

- A common hippo’s hide alone can weigh half a ton!

- Male hippos will attack young hippos in the water, but not on land.

- An adult hippopotamus can stay submerged for 5 to 6 minutes.

- A baby hippo can eat grass in 3 weeks, but nurses for a year.

- A hippopotamus can eat 100 to 150 pounds of grass in a night.

- A hippo’s tail is up to 22 inches long.

http://www.thejunglestore.com/Hippopotami


Hippopotamuses love water, which is why the Greeks named them the "river horse." Hippos spend up to 16 hours a day submerged in rivers and lakes to keep their massive bodies cool under the hot African sun. Hippos are graceful in water, good swimmers, and can hold their breath underwater for up to five minutes. However, they are often large enough to simply walk or stand on the lake floor, or lie in the shallows. Their eyes and nostrils are located high on their heads, which allows them to see and breathe while mostly submerged.

Hippos also bask on the shoreline and secrete an oily red substance, which gave rise to the myth that they sweat blood. The liquid is actually a skin moistener and sunblock that may also provide protection against germs.

At sunset, hippopotamuses leave the water and travel overland to graze. They may travel 6 miles (10 kilometers) in a night, along single-file pathways, to consume some 80 pounds (35 kilograms) of grass. Considering their enormous size, a hippo's food intake is relatively low. If threatened on land hippos may run for the water—they can match a human's speed for short distances.

Hippo calves weigh nearly 100 pounds (45 kilograms) at birth and can suckle on land or underwater by closing their ears and nostrils. Each female has only one calf every two years. Soon after birth, mother and young join schools that provide some protection against crocodiles, lions, and hyenas.

Hippos once had a broader distribution but now live in eastern central and southern sub-Saharan Africa, where their populations are in decline.


http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/hippopotamus/

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

dunno, watched Planet Earth, those hippos look evil, man.

 

[MARIS61]

Hippos kill more humans per year than any other animal.

Here are some other things far more dangerous than "the terrorist threat":

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/20-things-that-kill-more-people-than-sharks-every

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

nuke hippos

 

[jlprk]

This is racist. Donna Summer wasn't that fat until the later years.