The newborn is too small, his weight reaches only 22 kg, but the mother so carefully takes care of him that he does not feel insecurity. By the way, in vain, because it is not uncommon for such babies to try to eat those predators who do not risk attacking adult hippos. Therefore, the mother strictly monitors every step of her cub.
However, after returning to the herd, the males of the herd take care of the female with the calf. The whole year the mother will feed the baby with milk, and then she excommunicates him from such food. But this does not mean that the calf is already quite grown up. He becomes truly independent only at 3, 5, when his maturity comes.
In the wild, these amazing animals survive only up to 40 years.
It is interesting that there is a direct connection between the erasure of molars and the duration of life – only the teeth are erased, the life of the hippopotamus is sharply reduced. In artificially created conditions, hippos can live up to 50 and even 60 years.
