| Linguistics |
| Actual scientific name : |
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Hippopotamus amphibius |
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| Old scientific name : |
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| French name : |
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Hippopotame |
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| English name : |
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Hippopotamus |
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| Vernacular name : |
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| Kyofwe, Kiofwe , Kioofwe (Kiluba) ; mfubu, kifuluyi (Kisonge); Mvubu, Kyofwe (Kitabwa); n-jiji (Kiholoholo); Xhovwe, chovwe (Kikaonde); imfuvu (Kiaushi); Nfubu, mâle = Pandwe, femelle = Inamfubu (Kilala); Imfubu (Kilamba); nguvu (Kitshok); nguvu (Tshiluba); nguvu (Lunda); infubu; mâle = lipandwe, mfubu (Kibemba) ; ngubu (Lingala); Kiboko (Kiswahili) | |
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| Zoology |
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| Description : |
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The hippopotamus (from the Greek "hippopotamos" meaning " horse from the river ") is an enormous animal. Shoulder height: approximately 1,5 m. Head and body length: approximately 4,5 m (tail length: 50 cm). Weight: approximately 2 tons. The skin is naked and smooth and grey brownish. The outline of the eyes, the lips and the inside of the skin folds present on the nape of the neck and shoulders are pink. The body is sometimes coloured in red by a glandular secretion (sometimes called " sweat of blood ") which protects its skin from sunburn. The neck is short and thick, the head is massive with an enormous snout (measuring up to 50 cm wide). The eyes and ears are prominent and set high on the head. This allows the hippopotamus to breathe and see even if he is immersed. The legs are short and the body looks like an elongated barrel. Each foot has 4 toes covered with thick nails. The tail is short, flat and is fringed at the end by thick bristles. The upper and lower canine teeth and the incisors are enlarged into tusks. The canine teeth measure up to 50 cm. In spite of his mass, the hippopotamus can reach a speed of 40kph.
The male is bigger than the female. |
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| Habitat : |
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Lakes and rivers (which are at least 1,5 m deep) surrounded by short grass. Used to be common in all the big rivers of Katanga. Today only a few are left in the Lualaba, the Lufira and the Lulua. |
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| Behaviour : |
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The hippopotamus is a sedentary and gregarious animal, living in schools of 5 to 30 individuals. These schools contain females and their offspring, young males and a territorial bull. The dominant bull marks his territory by scattering urine and dung by wagging its tail. Fights over females or territory are violent and sometimes fatal. Young males are chased away by the dominant bull at about six years. Females do not leave their native school. When a dominant bull approaches another hippopotamus it urinates and defecates. The bull then tastes the water with its vomeronasal organ. If he finds a female in oestrus, mating takes place. The hippopotamus is amphibian that is capable of living on land as well as in the water. Can walk under the water, swims very well and can stay up to 6 minutes under the water. Can close his ears and his nostrils to prevent water from getting in. Spends the day in or near the water to protect the skin from sunburn, to keep cool and to avoid insect bites. At dusk it moves out of the water and forage for about 8 hours. It roars, whines, clicks and creams. The hippopotamus threatens intruders by yawning and displaying its tusks. It is the most dangerous wild mammal in Africa. If alarmed on ground it will charge back to the water and is likely to trample anything in its way. In the water, bulls attack to defend their females and females attack to defend their young. Hippos have been know to save other species from a crocodile’s attack or from drowning, but the reason behind these acts is not know yet.
Average lifespan: 30 years. |
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| Diet : |
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Grass and aquatic plants. Can eat up to 20 kg per day. |
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| Life history : |
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Females reach their sexual maturity around 5 years and males around 7 years.
After a gestation period of about 225 days, females give birth to a young. Young weigh 30 kg at birth and are weaned after 8 to 14 months.
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| Distribution in Katanga : |
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| History, Ethnology, Sociology |
| Interactions with humans : |
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Dangerous in its territory. Sometimes attack crafts. An encounter with a hippo that forrages on the ground in the night can be very dangerous. The hippo is the animal responsible of the largest number of mortal accidents. |
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| Taboos : |
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| Legends, believes, folklore : |
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By the Bemba, a piece of meat form the top of the hippo's head is taken (mutunduko). It is burnt with a specific tree and ashes are spread on the field. This allows seeds to raise well, just like the hippo's head that always comes back up to the surface.
A mixture made out of water, plants and hippos' droppings is given to constipated babies. This is probably to imitate the hippo that spread its droppings in the surroundings. |
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| Fishing, hunting : |
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Completely protected, the hippo is hunted for its meat. It is mostly profit that push hunters to run after these tons of meat. |
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| Feeding : |
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Consumed traditionnally by all Kantangese populations. |
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| Breeding, taming : |
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In 2006, census was made of a tamed hippo around Mwadingusha. This animal was fed by a countryman and was eating in the village with the pigs. |
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| Uses of skin or other body parts : |
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The sadly famous "Fimbo" was a whip made out of hippopotamus' leather strap. |
Warning :
This database was established according to official pieces of work and with the help of famous scientists. However, there might be some errors.
The vernacular names were collected in the field and in the colonial literature from the first part of the 20th century. The monks who established the first dictionaries were not necessarily informed naturalists. Therefore, errors must have been committed.
We invite everyone who could help us to improve this working tool to contact us in order to correct us and share her/his knowledge with us.
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