Hippopotamus Coloring Pages

The Big and Powerful King of the Waterfront

• The Hippopotamus is a super huge animal that lives in Africa.

• They are the largest animals after elephants and rhinos. They can weigh 1.5 to 3 tons!

• They spend most of the day in the water. At night, they go up on land to eat grass.

Their Name and English Origins

The name of the Hippopotamus comes from how they look and where they live.

• English Name: In English, they are called Hippopotamus. People often shorten it to Hippo.

• Origin of the Name: This word comes from ancient Greek. It combines hippos, which means "horse," and potamos, which means "river." So it means "river horse!"

• Origin of the Japanese Name: The Japanese name "Kaba" is written as "river horse" in Kanji characters, too. Just like in English, it was named to mean an animal that looks like a horse in the river.

Where They Live and What They Eat

• Where They Live: They live mainly in African countries south of the Sahara Desert.

• Their Favorite Spots: They love being near water, like rivers, lakes, and swamps.

• What They Eat: They are herbivores that mainly eat grass. At night, they come out of the water and eat tens of kilograms of grass at one time.

Their Calls and Amazing Powers

• Their Voice: They make a loud, deep "bo-ho, bo-ho" sound. They talk in loud voices so the sound carries through the water.

• The Secret of Red Sweat: A red liquid called "blood sweat" comes out of the skin of a Hippopotamus. It is not real blood! It works like sunscreen to protect their skin from strong sunlight and as medicine to keep germs away.

• Surprisingly Fast Runners: Their bodies are heavy, but they can run over 30 kilometers per hour on land. That is faster than a human running at full speed!

• Life in the Water: Their eyes, nose, and ears are lined up near the top of their head. This lets them look around while keeping most of their body underwater.

Here are tips to color your Hippopotamus to look strong and real!

Pick Your Base Colors

• Try coloring the whole body in dark gray or purplish gray.

• Mix in a little pink around the tummy and eyes. This makes it look like real Hippopotamus skin.

Show the Skin Texture

• Hippopotamus skin looks smooth, but it has wrinkles here and there.

• Draw thin lines around the neck and legs with dark brown or black. This makes your Hippopotamus look big and powerful!

Make It Look Wet

• Do you want it to look like it just came out of the water? Draw white light streaks on the back, or add a light layer of light blue. This makes it look shiny and wet.

Color the Big Open Mouth

• If the picture has an open mouth, color the inside light pink. Color the big tusks white or light cream. The bright colors will look super cool!

Can they actually not swim?

A Hippopotamus spends most of its day in the water, but it is actually not very good at swimming. It cannot float gently on top of the water because it has very little body fat and a heavy body. It might look like it is swimming, but it is actually walking by pushing off the bottom of the river with its feet.

A strange body that sweats "red sweat"

When a Hippopotamus comes out onto the land, a red liquid sometimes comes out from its body. It looks like it is bleeding, so people sometimes call it "bloody sweat," but it is not blood at all. It works like a super high-grade sunscreen lotion that protects its skin from drying out and keeps germs away.

They are super fast when they run!

A Hippopotamus looks calm and slow, but it can run super fast on land. When it tries its best, people say it can run at more than 25 miles per hour. That is as fast as an Olympic athlete, so a human could never outrun one if chased!

A big mouth is proof of strength

A Hippopotamus can open its mouth super wide, up to about 150 degrees. This huge mouth and its long, sharp tusks are strong weapons that can even scare away lions and alligators. That is why many people say the Hippopotamus is the strongest animal of all.