Hippopotomonstrosequippedaliophobia… What have we here ?

Is it a bird, is it a plane or is it an animal ? None of these, it is the fear of long words. Now could they not have chosen a shorter name for such a phobia??

I Google searched to find something interesting about the Hippopotamus… and this jumped out at me as I started to search.

The hippo is the third largest type of land mammal… Okay the elephant is the largest, what then is the second largest ? That’s right.. it is the Rhinoceros…

Elephant 4 – 7 tons, Rhino 2.5 tons and then the hippo 1.5 tons. But when it comes to speed the rhino is the fastest of the three at 55 k/h, the elephant 40 k/h and the Hippo 30 k/h… now all three are faster than a human at between 10 and 25 k/h depending on the distance being run… and now you know why we developed the rifle…

But just looking at my title has given me a fear of pronouncing words… I wonder if there is title phobia for that as well ? I know if I tried to pronounce that word I’d probably suffer from Katagelophobia pretty quickly… and as I scan through one long list of phobias I discover another word meaning the fear of long words… Sesquipedalophobia… here’s the list if you want to try and answer my question (CLICK HERE) Good luck… in the mean time a few photos of Hippos..

 

Hippopotamus. The Killer Greatly Underestimated.

The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius),

or hippo. Hippopotamuses are by nature very aggressive animals, especially when young calves are present. Frequent targets of their aggression include crocodiles, which often inhabit the same river habitat as hippos. Nile crocodiles, lions and spotted hyenas are known to prey on young hippos.

Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.

The hippopotamus is semi-aquatic, inhabiting rivers, lakes and mangrove swamps, where territorial bulls preside over a stretch of river and groups of 5 to 30 females and young. During the day they remain cool by staying in the water or mud. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land.

It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes).

This female exited the water near us and entered a smaller stream… she returned hours later accompanied by her young…