View allAll Photos Tagged Endocrine
Navajo Technical University (NTU) was awarded $220,000 for 24 months, in 2018, under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Tribal College Research Grant Program, for the Fabrication and Education of Multi-Purpose Nano Electrochemical Sensor to Detect Endocrine Disruptors (Bisphenol Compounds) and Glucose in Navajo Nation project, that is led by NTU Chemistry Associate Professor Dr. Thiagarajan Soundappan, in Crownpoint, NM, on Sept. 9, 2019. Bisphenol also known as BPA can be found items such as receipts from thermal printers, and certain plastic bottles and containers. The research funding provides equipment and staff for the Electrochemical Research wet-laboratory in this one-year old facility.
Robinson Tom (Navajo) (SEEN) and Michael Nelwood are making BPA bio sensors that detect both BPA and glucose without the use of a needle or blood sample. The higher number of diabetes and high use of plastic containers in the Navajo Nation is a clear need for this type of sensor. The lack of nutritional and varied food sources on the reservation (food desert) lowers the community’s immune defense, making them vulnerable to diseases caused attributed to BPA contact and high glucose.
Tom also has experience with radon detection research for USDA, and DoD research developing more efficient battlefield batteries for U.S. servicemen. On a personal side, he has family members who are dealing with diabetes, so his motivation to develop the BPA/glucose sensors are close to him. Nellwood will take over research operations when Tom graduates next semester. Not only will the research be turned over, the will carry on with the in-demand community awareness sessions that teach the tribal community about the health concerns.
Both are U.S. Army veterans.
NTU was initially established in 1979 as the Navajo Skill Center and is the Navajo Nation’s first university. A highly respected land-grant institution, NTU offers technical, vocational, and academic degrees, as well as community education, in a student-oriented, hands-on learning environment with state-of-the-art classroom equipment.
In 1994, 29 tribal colleges received land-grant university (LGU) status, giving them access to federal government resources that would improve the lives of Native students through higher education and help propel American Indians toward self-sufficiency. These resources also support innovative research, education, and extension programs that positively impact agriculture and food production. The 1994 Land-Grants often serve as the primary institution of scientific inquiry, knowledge and learning for reservation communities.
USDA Photo by Lance Cheung, with permission from NTU.
For more information, please see:
nifa.usda.gov/program/tribal-college-research-grant-program
nifa.usda.gov/resource/first-20-years-1994-land-grant-institutions
From Woman's Personal Hygiene, by Leona W. Chalmers, published 1946. Leona is preoccupied with cleanliness of woman's bodies. "Infection in these parts may eventually affect the entire reproductive system, and undermine a woman's health. The source of a woman's vitality lies largely in her endocrine glands...the principal of which are probably the ovaries. These small organs may easily be infected by way of the vagina. Doctor Bubis, you will note, calls the vagina a POTENTIALLY INFECTED CAVITY."
These x-rays show how well the douching liquid spreads in the vagina.
Google revealed that Leona patented the menstrual cup (shown in this book) in 1937, though they didn't catch on until 60 years later.
Navajo Technical University (NTU) was awarded $220,000 for 24 months, in 2018, under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Tribal College Research Grant Program, for the Fabrication and Education of Multi-Purpose Nano Electrochemical Sensor to Detect Endocrine Disruptors (Bisphenol Compounds) and Glucose in Navajo Nation project, that is led by NTU Chemistry Associate Professor Dr. Thiagarajan Soundappan (SEEN), in Crownpoint, NM, on Sept. 9, 2019. Bisphenol also known as BPA can be found items such as receipts from thermal printers, and certain plastic bottles and containers. The research funding provides equipment and staff for the Electrochemical Research wet-laboratory in this one-year old facility.
Robinson Tom (Navajo) and Michael Nelwood are making BPA bio sensors that detect both BPA and glucose without the use of a needle or blood sample. The higher number of diabetes and high use of plastic containers in the Navajo Nation is a clear need for this type of sensor. The lack of nutritional and varied food sources on the reservation (food desert) lowers the community’s immune defense, making them vulnerable to diseases caused attributed to BPA contact and high glucose.
Tom also has experience with radon detection research for USDA, and DoD research developing more efficient battlefield batteries for U.S. servicemen. On a personal side, he has family members who are dealing with diabetes, so his motivation to develop the BPA/glucose sensors are close to him. Nellwood will take over research operations when Tom graduates next semester. Not only will the research be turned over, the will carry on with the in-demand community awareness sessions that teach the tribal community about the health concerns.
Both are U.S. Army veterans.
NTU was initially established in 1979 as the Navajo Skill Center and is the Navajo Nation’s first university. A highly respected land-grant institution, NTU offers technical, vocational, and academic degrees, as well as community education, in a student-oriented, hands-on learning environment with state-of-the-art classroom equipment.
In 1994, 29 tribal colleges received land-grant university (LGU) status, giving them access to federal government resources that would improve the lives of Native students through higher education and help propel American Indians toward self-sufficiency. These resources also support innovative research, education, and extension programs that positively impact agriculture and food production. The 1994 Land-Grants often serve as the primary institution of scientific inquiry, knowledge and learning for reservation communities.
USDA Photo by Lance Cheung, with permission from NTU.
For more information, please see:
nifa.usda.gov/program/tribal-college-research-grant-program
nifa.usda.gov/resource/first-20-years-1994-land-grant-institutions
The Golden Triangle with Ranthambore tour takes you to the enduring cities of Delhi Agra Jaipur that complete the golden triangle circuit. except for this, the tour includes a visit to the Ranthambore National Park, a natural home to the Royal Tigers. expertise the unexpected endocrine rush as you see one amongst the numerous. Also, the meticulously designed itinerary provides you an opportunity to learn from the simplest looking opportunities.
www.heritageindiaholidays.com/7-nights-8-days-golden-tria...
With the stormy conditions predicted to hit the South Coast,this afternoon,I got up early (and believe me 10 am is early for me - I have an endocrine disorder which leaves me tired,yawn haha !!!).I was glad we managed to get out and enjoy the fresh air while we could.It is looking like the heavy showers are about to set in for the day.
This is my local beach at Par.
Around a hundred scientists asked Europe and the international community to act against endocrine disrupting chemicals. They condemned the use of strategies for manufacturing doubt employed by industries in the climate change battle.
Image sources: Let’s stop the manipulation of science, Le Monde, 29.11.2016.
The Investigation
. A Denial of the State of the Science.
. The Interference of the United States.
. The Discreet but Major Gift to the Pesticides Lobby.
Endocrine Disruptors
. Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: 2nd Endocrine Society Scientific Statement, 2015.
. Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: 1st Endocrine Society Scientific Statement, 2009.
. Watch our DES and EDCs research gallery on Flickr.
. Watch our EDCs video playlist on YouTube.
Red is the lowest of the seven colours in the visible spectrum and is known as a "warm" colour.
It is stimulating and energising.
RED relates to the BASE chakra situated at the base of the spine.
The organs to which this chakra relates are the kidneys and bladder.
The vertebral column, hips and legs are also areas related to this chakra.
The endocrine gland to which this colour relates is the adrenal gland.
On the psycho-spiritual level, this chakra relates to self awareness.
That is to say our awareness of ourselves as human beings and our place on earth.
It is the area of survival and relates to our basic human instincts of fight or flight.
Red gives us courage and strength.
The colour relates to stability and security.
Those woolen threads are drying under the sun after the dyeing process.
This picture was shot in the courtyard of our dyeing factory which is in the countryside at 45 km away from Benaras.
As we are approaching the Holi celebrations I wanted to write a few words concerning my favourite colour.
Join the photographer at www.facebook.com/laurent.goldstein.photography
© All photographs are copyrighted and all rights reserved.
Please do not use any photographs without permission (even for private use).
The use of any work without consent of the artist is PROHIBITED and will lead automatically to consequences.
Metamfetamin kan brukas
Diskutera här påFlickr om metamfetamin alltid behöver vara bra eller dåligt, eller om det finns mera nyanserade sätt att se på det hela.
Metamfetamin kan missbrukas och
-Metamfetamin kan missbrukas: se konsekvenserna
och missbruket ökar snabbt. Speciellt farligt för personer med ADHD då missbruk av metamfetamin reglerar ned densiteten på dopaminreceptorerna.
Metamfetamin - the faces of meth
Klassiker om vad som händer med metamfetaminmissbrukaren, åldrandet och tänderna. Blicken, huden och ödesränderna.
Meth större hjärna med mindre innehåll
Vad som händer i hjärnan hos Meth missbrukare, hjärnan växer på grund av att den svullnar och densiteten på dopaminreceptorerna regleras ned. Men också att metamfetamin rätt använt kan vara bra samt varför. Skillnaden mellan enantiomererna hur hur otroligt olika de verkar.
Metamfetamin & ADHD + Hel dokumentär
Hel dokumentärfilm från National Geographic om världens farligaste drog: Metamfetamin,
Den här dokumentären kanske om inte annat kan förklara lite av varför Metamfetamin fått det rykte som det har, vilka konsekvenserna av ett missbruk blir osv. Ãven om dokumentären inte alls förklarar att personer med ADHD löper en ökad risk att fastna i ett metamfetaminmissbruk och att det på sikt kommer att göra problemen mycket värre tack vare att höga doser reglerar ned antalet och densiteten på dopamin receptorerna. Så att det som frälser dig också kommer att döda dig har kanske aldrig varit sannare än här.
Metamfetamin de direkta & indirekta skadeverkningarna
-Se Oprahshow nedan om metamfetaminmissbruk
-ohämmad sex med främlingar och sambanden
Fler och fler rapporter kommer om metamfetamin eller crystal meth som en del föredrar att kalla det men skadeverkningarna av ett missbruk direkt säger kanske inte så mycket om de indirekta skadeverkningarna av missbruket, vilket varit väldigt vanligt och utbrett i vissa kretsar i bland annat New York.
Marknadsföringen av Meth amfetamin till gravida
Den Pengakåta pillerindustrin har genom åren haft en rad smaklösheter för sig förutom att dölja resultat som talar till sitt preparats nackdel så manipuleras och har det manipulerats en hel del igenom åren. En speciellt intressant grupp att kränga "de nya supervetenskapliga" produkterna till har varit kvinnor, ofta med någon skavank som medicinjättarna inte alls varit sena med att marknadsföra med vetenskap som täckmantel. Det kan vara den feta kvinnan, den okåta kvinnan, den otacksamma kvinnan eller bara kvinnan som inte hinner med att städa rent i hemmet. Eller varför inte suggan som blivit på smällen och fettnat till? Behöver inte hon lite metamfetamin?
så här farligt lever användarna
Metamfetamin utbrett i hela skåne
Produktbeskrivning på Engelska
METH
Teratogenic effects: Pregnancy Category C. Methamphetamine has been shown to have teratogenic and embryocidal effects in mammals given high multiples of the human dose. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. METH tablets should
not be used during pregnancy unless the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus. Nonteratogenic effects: Infants born to mothers dependent on amphetamines have an increased risk of premature delivery and low birth weight. Also, these infants may experience symptoms of withdrawal as demonstrated by dysphoria, including agitation and significant lassitude.
Usage in Nursing Mothers: Amphetamines are excreted in human milk. Mothers taking amphetamines should be advised to refrain from nursing.
Pediatric Use: Safety and effectiveness for use as an anorectic agent in children below the age of 12 years have not been established. Long-term effects of methamphetamine in children have not been established (see WARNINGS). Drug treatment is not indicated in all cases of the behavioral syndrome characterized by moderate to severe distractibility, short attention span, hyperactivity, emotional lability and impulsivity. It should be considered only in light of the complete history and evaluation of the child. The decision to prescribe METH tablets should depend on the physicianâs assessment of the chronicity and severity of the childâs symptoms and their appropriateness for his/her age. Prescription should not depend solely on the presence of one or more of the behavioral characteristics. When these symptoms are associated with acute stress reactions, treatment with METH tablets is usually not indicated. Clinical experience suggests that in psychotic children, administration of METH tablets may exacerbate symptoms of behavior disturbance and thought disorder. Amphetamines have been reported to exacerbate motor and phonic tics and Touretteâs syndrome. Therefore, clinical evaluation for tics and Touretteâs syndrome in children and their families should precede use of stimulant medications.
ADVERSE REACTIONS
The following are adverse reactions in decreasing order of severity within each category that have been reported: Cardiovascular: Elevation of blood pressure, tachycardia and palpitation. Fatal cardiorespiratory arrest has been reported, mostly in the context of abuse/misuse. Central Nervous System: Psychotic episodes have been rarely
eported at recommended doses. Dizziness, dysphoria, overstimulation, euphoria, insomnia, tremor, restlessness and headache. Exacerbation of motor and phonic tics and Touretteâs syndrome. Gastrointestinal: Diarrhea, constipation, dryness of mouth, unpleasant taste and other gastrointestinal disturbances.
Hypersensitivity: Urticaria.
Endocrine: Impotence and changes in libido.
Miscellaneous: Suppression of growth has been reported with the
long-term use of stimulants in children (see WARNINGS).
DRUG ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE
Controlled Substance: METH tablets are subject to control under
DEA schedule II.
Abuse: Methamphetamine has been extensively abused. Tolerance, extreme psychological dependence, and severe social disability have occurred. There are reports of patients who have increased the dosage to many times that recommended. Abrupt cessation following prolonged high dosage administration results in extreme fatigue and mental depression; changes are also noted on the sleep EEG. Manifestations of chronic intoxication with methamphetamine include
severe dermatoses, marked insomnia, irritability, hyperactivity, and personality changes. The most severe manifestation of chronic intoxication is psychosis often clinically indistinguishable from schizophrenia. Abuse and/or misuse of methamphetamine have resulted in death. Fatal cardiorespiratory arrest has been reported in the context of abuse and/or misuse of methamphetamine.
OVERDOSAGE depressive symptoms should be adequately screened to determine if they are at risk for bipolar disorder; such screening should include a detailed psychiatric history, including a family history of suicide, bipolar disorder, and depression. Emergence of New Psychotic or Manic Symptoms: Treatment emergent psychotic or manic symptoms, e.g., hallucinations, delusional thinking, or mania in children and adolescents without a prior history of psychotic illness or mania can be caused by stimulants at usual doses. If such symptoms occur, consideration should be given to a possible causal role of the stimulant, and discontinuation of
treatment may be appropriate. In a pooled analysis of multiple short-term, placebo-controlledstudies, such symptoms occurred in about 0.1% (4 patients with events out of 3482 exposed to methylphenidate or amphetamine for several weeks at usual doses) of stimulant-treated patients compared to 0 in placebo-treated patients.
Aggression: Aggressive behavior or hostility is often observed in children and adolescents with ADHD, and has been reported in clinical trials and the postmarketing experience of some medications indicated for the treatment of ADHD. Although there is no systematic evidence that stimulants cause aggressive behavior or hostility, patients beginning treatment for ADHD should be monitored for the appearance of or worsening of aggressive behavior or hostility. There is some clinical evidence that stimulants may lower the convulsive threshold in patients with prior history of seizures, in patients with prior EEG abnormalities in absence of seizures, and, very rarely, in patients without a history of seizures and no prior EEG evidence of seizures. In the presence of seizures, the drug should be discontinued. Visual Disturbance Difficulties with accommodation and blurring of vision have been reported with stimulant treatment.
PRECAUTIONS
General: METH tablets should be used with caution in patients with even mild hypertension. Methamphetamine should not be used to combat fatigue or to replace rest in normal persons. Prescribing and dispensing of methamphetamine should be limited to the smallest amount that is feasible at one time in order to minimize the possibility of overdosage. Information for Patients: The patient should be informed that methamphetamine may impair the ability to engage in potentially hazardous activities, such as, operating machinery or driving a motor vehicle.
The patient should be cautioned not to increase dosage, except on advice of the physician. Prescribers or other health professionals should inform patients, their families and their caregivers about the benefits and risks associated with treatment with methamphetamine and should counsel them it its appropriate use. A patient Medication Guide is available for METH. The prescriber or health professional should instruct patients, their families, and their caregivers to read the Medication Guide and should assist them in understanding its contents. Patients should be given the opportunity to discuss the contents of the Medication Guide and to obtain answers to any questions they may have.
Drug Interactions: Insulin requirements in diabetes mellitus may be altered in association with the use of methamphetamine and the concomitant dietary regimen. Methamphetamine may decrease the hypotensive effect of guanethidine. METH should not be used concurrently with monoamine oxidase inhibitors (see CONTRAINDICATIONS). Concurrent administration of tricyclic antidepressants and indirect- acting sympathomimetic amines such as the amphetamines, should be closely supervised and dosage carefully adjusted. Phenothiazines are reported in the literature to antagonize the CNS stimulant action of the amphetamines.
INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity: METH tablets are indicated as an integral part of a total treatment program which typically includes other remedial measures (psychological, educational, social) for a stabilizing effect in children over 6 years of age with a behavioral syndrome characterized by the following group of developmentally inappropriate symptoms: moderate to severe distractibility, short attention span, hyperactivity, emotional lability, and impulsivity. The diagnosis of this syndrome should not be made with finality when these symptoms are only of comparatively recent origin. Nonlocalizing (soft) neurological signs, learning disability, and abnormal EEG may or may not be present, and a diagnosis of central nervous system dysfunction may or may not be warranted. Exogenous Obesity: as a short-term (i.e., a few weeks) adjunct in a regimen of weight reduction based on caloric restriction, for patients in whom obesity is refractory to alternative therapy, e.g., repeated diets, group programs, and other drugs. The limited usefulness of METH tablets (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY) should be weighed against possible risks inherent in use of the drug, such as those described below.
CONTRAINDICATIONS
METH tablets are contraindicated during or within 14 days following the administration of monoamine oxidase inhibitors; hypertensive crisis may result. It is also contraindicated in patients with glaucoma, advanced arteriosclerosis, symptomatic cardiovascular disease, moderate to severe hypertension, hyperthyroidism or known hypersensitivity or idiosyncrasy to sympathomimetic amines. Methamphetamine should not be given to patients who are in an agitated state or who have a history of drug abuse.
WARNINGS
Tolerance to the anorectic effect usually develops within a few weeks. When this occurs, the recommended dose should not be exceeded in an attempt to increase the effect; rather, the drug should be discontinued (see DRUG ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE).
Serious Cardiovascular Events
Sudden Death and Pre existing Structural Cardiac Abnormalities
or Other Serious Heart Problems:
Children and Adolescents: Sudden death has been reported in association with CNS stimulant treatment at usual doses in children and adolescents with structural cardiac abnormalities or other serious heart problems. Although some serious heart problems alone carry an increased risk of sudden death, stimulant products generally should not be used in children or adolescents with known serious structural cardiac abnormalities, cardiomyopathy, serious heart rhythm abnormalities, or other serious cardiac problems that may place them at increased vulnerability to the sympathomimetic effects of a
stimulant drug.
Adults: Sudden deaths, stroke, and myocardial infarction have been reported in adults taking stimulant drugs at usual doses for ADHD. Although the role of stimulants in these adult cases is also unknown, adults have a greater likelihood than children of having serious structural cardiac abnormalities, cardiomyopathy, serious heart rhythm abnormalities, coronary artery disease, or other serious cardiac problems. Adults with such abnormalities should also generally not be treated with stimulant drugs. Hypertension and other Cardiovascular Conditions: Stimulant medications cause a modest increase in average blood pressure (about 2-4 mmHg) and average heart rate (about 3-6 bpm), and individuals may have larger increases. While the mean changes alone would not be expected to have short-term consequences, all patients should be monitored for larger changes in heart rate and blood pressure. Caution is indicated in treating patients whose underlying medical conditions might be compromised by increases in blood pressure or heart rate, e.g., those with pre-existing hypertension, heart failure, recent myocardial infarction, or ventricular arrhythmia. Assessing Cardiovascular Status in Patients being Treated with Stimulant Medications: Children, adolescents, or adults who are being considered for treatment with stimulant medications should have a careful history (including assessment for a family history of sudden death or ventricular arrhythmia) and physical exam to assess for the presence of cardiac disease, and should receive further cardiac evaluation if findings suggest such disease (e.g., electrocardiogram and echocardiogram). Patients who develop symptoms such as exertional chest pain, unexplained syncope, or other symptoms suggestive of cardiac disease during stimulant treatment should undergo a prompt cardiac evaluation.
Psychiatric Adverse Events
Pre-existing Psychosis:
Administration of stimulants may exacerbate symptoms of behavior disturbance and thought disorder in patients with a pre-existing psychotic disorder. Bipolar Illness: Particular care should be taken in using stimulants to treat ADHD in patients with comorbid bipolar disorder because of concern for possible induction of a mixed/manic episode in suchpatients. Prior to initiating treatment with a stimulant,
METH®
Methamphetamine
Hydrochloride
Tablets, USP only
DESCRIPTION
METH® (methamphetamine hydrochloride tablets, USP), chemically known as (S)-N,α-dimethylbenzeneethanamine hydrochloride, is a member of the amphetamine group of sympathomimetic amines. It has the following structural formula:
CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY
Methamphetamine is a sympathomimetic amine with CNS stimulant activity. Peripheral actions include elevation of systolic and diastolic blood pressures and weak bronchodilator and respiratory stimulant action. Drugs of this class used in obesity are commonly known as âanorecticsâ or âanorexigenicsâ. It has not been established, however, that the action of such drugs in treating obesity is primarily one of appetite suppression. Other central nervous system actions, or metabolic effects, may be involved, for example. Adult obese subjects instructed in dietary management and treated with âanorecticâ drugs, lose more weight on the average than those treated with placebo and diet, as determined in relatively short-term clinical trials.
The magnitude of increased weight loss of drug-treated patients over placebo-treated patients is only a fraction of a pound a week. The rate of weight loss is greatest in the first weeks of therapy for both drug and placebo subjects and tends to decrease in succeeding weeks. The origins of the increased weight loss due to the various possible drug effects are not established. The amount of weight loss associated with the use of an âanorecticâ drug varies from trial to trial, and the increased weight loss appears to be related in part to variables other than the drug prescribed, such as the physician-investigator, the population treated, and the diet prescribed. Studies do not permit conclusions as to the relative importance of the drug and non-drug factors on weight loss.
The natural history of obesity is measured in years, whereas the studies cited are restricted to a few weeks duration; thus, the total impact of drug-induced weight loss over that of diet alone must be considered clinically limited. The mechanism of action involved in producing the beneficial behavioral changes seen in hyperkinetic children receiving methamphetamine is unknown. In humans, methamphetamine is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. The primary site of metabolism is in the liver by aromatic hydroxylation, N-dealkylation and deamination. At least seven metabolites have been identified in the urine. The biological half-life has been reported in the range of 4 to 5 hours. Excretion occurs primarily in the urine and is dependent on urine pH. Alkaline urine will significantly increase the drug half-life. Approximately 62% of an oral dose is eliminated in the urine within the first 24 hours with about one-third as intact drug and the remainder as metabolites.
METHAMPHETAMINE HAS A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR
ABUSE. IT SHOULD THUS BE TRIED ONLY IN
CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY. HAVE A NICE DAY.
Bara metylfenidat rekommenderas av de europeiska kontrollmyndigheterna för behandling av ADHD
Publisher: International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, FIGO, December 2015.
Widespread exposure to toxic environmental chemicals threatens healthy human reproduction. Industrial chemicals are used and discarded in every aspect of daily life and are ubiquitous in food, water, air, and consumer products. Exposure to environmental chemicals and metals permeates all parts of life across the globe. Toxic chemicals enter the environment through food and energy production, industrial emissions and accidents, waste, transportation, and the making, use, and disposal of consumer and personal care products.
Overview
* Introduction
* Vulnerable people, communities, and populations
* Nature and extent of prenatal and preconception exposure to toxic environmental chemicals
* Health impacts of preconception and prenatal exposure to toxic environmental chemicals
* Global health and economic burden related to toxic environmental chemicals
* Recommendation for prevention
* Conclusions
Sources and more information
* Flickr album DES and EDCs Research.
* Global Obstetrics and Gynaecology group warn of harm to babies from toxic chemicals in consumer products, HEAL, 1 October 2015.
* Download the full PDF.
* Our Endocrine Disruptors video playlist and posts tagged EDCs.
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
How the chemical lobby blocked action on hormone disrupting chemicals
Publisher: Corporate Europe Observatory, May 19th 2015.
An investigation led by research and campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and journalist Stéphane Horel exposes corporate lobby groups mobilising to stop the EU taking action on hormone (endocrine) disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The report sheds light on how corporations and their lobby groups have used numerous tactics from the corporate lobbying playbook: scaremongering, evidence-discrediting, and delaying tactics, as well as using the ongoing TTIP negotiations as a leverage. But industry's interests were also defended by actors within the Commission.
Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that are present in everyday products – from plastics and cosmetics to pesticides. Because of their ability to interact with the hormonal (endocrine) systems of living organisms, they are suspected of having severe health and environmental impacts.
EU law demands action be taken on endocrine disruptors, with clear deadlines set. According to these rules, if a chemical is identified as an endocrine disruptor, a ban follows. The current approach is that chemicals are assessed following risk assessment procedures and safe levels of exposure are set accordingly. However, for endocrine disruptors it might be impossible to set such 'safe' levels.
The Directorate-General (DG) for the Environment of the European Commission was put in charge of establishing a set of scientific criteria for 'what is an endocrine disruptor'. The chemical industry lobby was up in arms at the potential banning of some EDCs. The main lobby groups involved were the chemical and pesticide lobbies (CEFIC - European Chemical Industry Council & ECPA - European Crop Protection Association), and the corporations at the forefront were BASF and Bayer. But they found allies in various member states, actors within the European Commission, and in the European Parliament.
Sources and more information
* Flickr album DES and EDCs Research.
* A Toxic Affair: How the chemical lobby blocked action on hormone disrupting chemicals, CEO, May 19th 2015.
* Download the full PDF.
* Our Endocrine Disruptors video playlist and posts tagged EDCs.
Avec: Anne Levadou - Présidente co-fondatrice, Emmanuelle Brun - Vice-présidente, François Levadou - Trésorier, Tifenn Clement - Secrétaire, Sylvie Despujols - Secrétaire adjointe, Stéphane Vallegas - Délégué à la communication, Laetitia Dormoy, Maryvonne Gall, Sylviane Masson, Claire Sarri.
Source: Association Réseau DES France victimes du Distilbène Facebook cover photo.
Le Distilbène DES, en savoir plus
Conséquences du DES en 2017 :
. Connaissances scientifiques et synthèse.
. Conséquences du DES pour les mères, filles et fils exposés.
. Conséquences du DES pour les petits-enfants exposés.
Epigénétique et générations futures :
. Effets transgénérationnels des perturbateurs endocriniens: les leçons du DES.
. Effets transgénérationnels du Distilbène, cette hormone sensée prévenir les fausses couches.
Bibliographie
. Documents à télécharger : synthèse DES 2017 (PDF 4 pages) et version complète DES 2017 (PDF 24 pages).
. Notre liste de vidéos DES en français sur YouTube.
. Tous nos posts tagués Distilbène.
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
Making Our Future Chemical Safe
The September 2015 issue of UNEP’s flagship magazine “Our Planet" highlights how sound management of chemicals and wastes is at the core of achieving sustainable development, with contributions from a number of distinguished policy makers and experts including the BRS Executive Secretary, Rolph Payet, together with useful infographics and an introductory overview by the UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner.
Download UNEP’s Our Planet, Making Our Future Chemical Safe, September 2015.
Enjoy our health infographics album on Flickr.
Read UNEP’s ‘Our Planet’ Focuses on Chemical Safety, chemicals-l.iisd, September 2015.
Our posts tagged air pollution, EDCs, safer chemicals.
Safer chemicals YouTube video playlist: DES, EDCs, pesticides.
Manipura
Element: Fire
TThis is my chakra project, It was a journey which taught me about myself and others. The simple images represent first a merge between the conscious and the subconscious and explores the physical connection of that hyperconscious with the human body (through the endocrine system and nervous system) and our physical surroundings. Each chakra corresponds to an element and a glad within the endocrine system/a part of the body where the energy of that chakra resides in a swirl of energy.
Fish, any of approximately 34,000 species of vertebrate animals (phylum Chordata) found in the fresh and salt waters of the world. Living species range from the primitive jawless lampreys and hagfishes through the cartilaginous sharks, skates, and rays to the abundant and diverse bony fishes. Most fish species are cold-blooded; however, one species, the opah (Lampris guttatus), is warm-blooded.
The term fish is applied to a variety of vertebrates of several evolutionary lines. It describes a life-form rather than a taxonomic group. As members of the phylum Chordata, fish share certain features with other vertebrates. These features are gill slits at some point in the life cycle, a notochord, or skeletal supporting rod, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, and a tail. Living fishes represent some five classes, which are as distinct from one another as are the four classes of familiar air-breathing animals—amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. For example, the jawless fishes (Agnatha) have gills in pouches and lack limb girdles. Extant agnathans are the lampreys and the hagfishes. As the name implies, the skeletons of fishes of the class Chondrichthyes (from chondr, “cartilage,” and ichthyes, “fish”) are made entirely of cartilage. Modern fish of this class lack a swim bladder, and their scales and teeth are made up of the same placoid material. Sharks, skates, and rays are examples of cartilaginous fishes. The bony fishes are by far the largest class. Examples range from the tiny seahorse to the 450-kg (1,000-pound) blue marlin, from the flattened soles and flounders to the boxy puffers and ocean sunfishes. Unlike the scales of the cartilaginous fishes, those of bony fishes, when present, grow throughout life and are made up of thin overlapping plates of bone. Bony fishes also have an operculum that covers the gill slits.
The study of fishes, the science of ichthyology, is of broad importance. Fishes are of interest to humans for many reasons, the most important being their relationship with and dependence on the environment. A more obvious reason for interest in fishes is their role as a moderate but important part of the world’s food supply. This resource, once thought unlimited, is now realized to be finite and in delicate balance with the biological, chemical, and physical factors of the aquatic environment. Overfishing, pollution, and alteration of the environment are the chief enemies of proper fisheries management, both in fresh waters and in the ocean. (For a detailed discussion of the technology and economics of fisheries, see commercial fishing.) Another practical reason for studying fishes is their use in disease control. As predators on mosquito larvae, they help curb malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.
Fishes are valuable laboratory animals in many aspects of medical and biological research. For example, the readiness of many fishes to acclimate to captivity has allowed biologists to study behaviour, physiology, and even ecology under relatively natural conditions. Fishes have been especially important in the study of animal behaviour, where research on fishes has provided a broad base for the understanding of the more flexible behaviour of the higher vertebrates. The zebra fish is used as a model in studies of gene expression.
There are aesthetic and recreational reasons for an interest in fishes. Millions of people keep live fishes in home aquariums for the simple pleasure of observing the beauty and behaviour of animals otherwise unfamiliar to them. Aquarium fishes provide a personal challenge to many aquarists, allowing them to test their ability to keep a small section of the natural environment in their homes. Sportfishing is another way of enjoying the natural environment, also indulged in by millions of people every year. Interest in aquarium fishes and sportfishing supports multimillion-dollar industries throughout the world.
Fishes have been in existence for more than 450 million years, during which time they have evolved repeatedly to fit into almost every conceivable type of aquatic habitat. In a sense, land vertebrates are simply highly modified fishes: when fishes colonized the land habitat, they became tetrapod (four-legged) land vertebrates. The popular conception of a fish as a slippery, streamlined aquatic animal that possesses fins and breathes by gills applies to many fishes, but far more fishes deviate from that conception than conform to it. For example, the body is elongate in many forms and greatly shortened in others; the body is flattened in some (principally in bottom-dwelling fishes) and laterally compressed in many others; the fins may be elaborately extended, forming intricate shapes, or they may be reduced or even lost; and the positions of the mouth, eyes, nostrils, and gill openings vary widely. Air breathers have appeared in several evolutionary lines.
Many fishes are cryptically coloured and shaped, closely matching their respective environments; others are among the most brilliantly coloured of all organisms, with a wide range of hues, often of striking intensity, on a single individual. The brilliance of pigments may be enhanced by the surface structure of the fish, so that it almost seems to glow. A number of unrelated fishes have actual light-producing organs. Many fishes are able to alter their coloration—some for the purpose of camouflage, others for the enhancement of behavioral signals.
Fishes range in adult length from less than 10 mm (0.4 inch) to more than 20 metres (60 feet) and in weight from about 1.5 grams (less than 0.06 ounce) to many thousands of kilograms. Some live in shallow thermal springs at temperatures slightly above 42 °C (100 °F), others in cold Arctic seas a few degrees below 0 °C (32 °F) or in cold deep waters more than 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) beneath the ocean surface. The structural and, especially, the physiological adaptations for life at such extremes are relatively poorly known and provide the scientifically curious with great incentive for study.
Almost all natural bodies of water bear fish life, the exceptions being very hot thermal ponds and extremely salt-alkaline lakes, such as the Dead Sea in Asia and the Great Salt Lake in North America. The present distribution of fishes is a result of the geological history and development of Earth as well as the ability of fishes to undergo evolutionary change and to adapt to the available habitats. Fishes may be seen to be distributed according to habitat and according to geographical area. Major habitat differences are marine and freshwater. For the most part, the fishes in a marine habitat differ from those in a freshwater habitat, even in adjacent areas, but some, such as the salmon, migrate from one to the other. The freshwater habitats may be seen to be of many kinds. Fishes found in mountain torrents, Arctic lakes, tropical lakes, temperate streams, and tropical rivers will all differ from each other, both in obvious gross structure and in physiological attributes. Even in closely adjacent habitats where, for example, a tropical mountain torrent enters a lowland stream, the fish fauna will differ. The marine habitats can be divided into deep ocean floors (benthic), mid-water oceanic (bathypelagic), surface oceanic (pelagic), rocky coast, sandy coast, muddy shores, bays, estuaries, and others. Also, for example, rocky coastal shores in tropical and temperate regions will have different fish faunas, even when such habitats occur along the same coastline.
Although much is known about the present geographical distribution of fishes, far less is known about how that distribution came about. Many parts of the fish fauna of the fresh waters of North America and Eurasia are related and undoubtedly have a common origin. The faunas of Africa and South America are related, extremely old, and probably an expression of the drifting apart of the two continents. The fauna of southern Asia is related to that of Central Asia, and some of it appears to have entered Africa. The extremely large shore-fish faunas of the Indian and tropical Pacific oceans comprise a related complex, but the tropical shore fauna of the Atlantic, although containing Indo-Pacific components, is relatively limited and probably younger. The Arctic and Antarctic marine faunas are quite different from each other. The shore fauna of the North Pacific is quite distinct, and that of the North Atlantic more limited and probably younger. Pelagic oceanic fishes, especially those in deep waters, are similar the world over, showing little geographical isolation in terms of family groups. The deep oceanic habitat is very much the same throughout the world, but species differences do exist, showing geographical areas determined by oceanic currents and water masses.
All aspects of the life of a fish are closely correlated with adaptation to the total environment, physical, chemical, and biological. In studies, all the interdependent aspects of fish, such as behaviour, locomotion, reproduction, and physical and physiological characteristics, must be taken into account.
Correlated with their adaptation to an extremely wide variety of habitats is the extremely wide variety of life cycles that fishes display. The great majority hatch from relatively small eggs a few days to several weeks or more after the eggs are scattered in the water. Newly hatched young are still partially undeveloped and are called larvae until body structures such as fins, skeleton, and some organs are fully formed. Larval life is often very short, usually less than a few weeks, but it can be very long, some lampreys continuing as larvae for at least five years. Young and larval fishes, before reaching sexual maturity, must grow considerably, and their small size and other factors often dictate that they live in a habitat different than that of the adults. For example, most tropical marine shore fishes have pelagic larvae. Larval food also is different, and larval fishes often live in shallow waters, where they may be less exposed to predators.
After a fish reaches adult size, the length of its life is subject to many factors, such as innate rates of aging, predation pressure, and the nature of the local climate. The longevity of a species in the protected environment of an aquarium may have nothing to do with how long members of that species live in the wild. Many small fishes live only one to three years at the most. In some species, however, individuals may live as long as 10 or 20 or even 100 years.
Fish behaviour is a complicated and varied subject. As in almost all animals with a central nervous system, the nature of a response of an individual fish to stimuli from its environment depends upon the inherited characteristics of its nervous system, on what it has learned from past experience, and on the nature of the stimuli. Compared with the variety of human responses, however, that of a fish is stereotyped, not subject to much modification by “thought” or learning, and investigators must guard against anthropomorphic interpretations of fish behaviour.
Fishes perceive the world around them by the usual senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste and by special lateral line water-current detectors. In the few fishes that generate electric fields, a process that might best be called electrolocation aids in perception. One or another of these senses often is emphasized at the expense of others, depending upon the fish’s other adaptations. In fishes with large eyes, the sense of smell may be reduced; others, with small eyes, hunt and feed primarily by smell (such as some eels).
Specialized behaviour is primarily concerned with the three most important activities in the fish’s life: feeding, reproduction, and escape from enemies. Schooling behaviour of sardines on the high seas, for instance, is largely a protective device to avoid enemies, but it is also associated with and modified by their breeding and feeding requirements. Predatory fishes are often solitary, lying in wait to dart suddenly after their prey, a kind of locomotion impossible for beaked parrot fishes, which feed on coral, swimming in small groups from one coral head to the next. In addition, some predatory fishes that inhabit pelagic environments, such as tunas, often school.
Sleep in fishes, all of which lack true eyelids, consists of a seemingly listless state in which the fish maintains its balance but moves slowly. If attacked or disturbed, most can dart away. A few kinds of fishes lie on the bottom to sleep. Most catfishes, some loaches, and some eels and electric fishes are strictly nocturnal, being active and hunting for food during the night and retiring during the day to holes, thick vegetation, or other protective parts of the environment.
Communication between members of a species or between members of two or more species often is extremely important, especially in breeding behaviour (see below Reproduction). The mode of communication may be visual, as between the small so-called cleaner fish and a large fish of a very different species. The larger fish often allows the cleaner to enter its mouth to remove gill parasites. The cleaner is recognized by its distinctive colour and actions and therefore is not eaten, even if the larger fish is normally a predator. Communication is often chemical, signals being sent by specific chemicals called pheromones.
Many fishes have a streamlined body and swim freely in open water. Fish locomotion is closely correlated with habitat and ecological niche (the general position of the animal to its environment).
Many fishes in both marine and fresh waters swim at the surface and have mouths adapted to feed best (and sometimes only) at the surface. Often such fishes are long and slender, able to dart at surface insects or at other surface fishes and in turn to dart away from predators; needlefishes, halfbeaks, and topminnows (such as killifish and mosquito fish) are good examples. Oceanic flying fishes escape their predators by gathering speed above the water surface, with the lower lobe of the tail providing thrust in the water. They then glide hundreds of yards on enlarged, winglike pectoral and pelvic fins. South American freshwater flying fishes escape their enemies by jumping and propelling their strongly keeled bodies out of the water.
So-called mid-water swimmers, the most common type of fish, are of many kinds and live in many habitats. The powerful fusiform tunas and the trouts, for example, are adapted for strong, fast swimming, the tunas to capture prey speedily in the open ocean and the trouts to cope with the swift currents of streams and rivers. The trout body form is well adapted to many habitats. Fishes that live in relatively quiet waters such as bays or lake shores or slow rivers usually are not strong, fast swimmers but are capable of short, quick bursts of speed to escape a predator. Many of these fishes have their sides flattened, examples being the sunfish and the freshwater angelfish of aquarists. Fish associated with the bottom or substrate usually are slow swimmers. Open-water plankton-feeding fishes almost always remain fusiform and are capable of rapid, strong movement (for example, sardines and herrings of the open ocean and also many small minnows of streams and lakes).
Bottom-living fishes are of many kinds and have undergone many types of modification of their body shape and swimming habits. Rays, which evolved from strong-swimming mid-water sharks, usually stay close to the bottom and move by undulating their large pectoral fins. Flounders live in a similar habitat and move over the bottom by undulating the entire body. Many bottom fishes dart from place to place, resting on the bottom between movements, a motion common in gobies. One goby relative, the mudskipper, has taken to living at the edge of pools along the shore of muddy mangrove swamps. It escapes its enemies by flipping rapidly over the mud, out of the water. Some catfishes, synbranchid eels, the so-called climbing perch, and a few other fishes venture out over damp ground to find more promising waters than those that they left. They move by wriggling their bodies, sometimes using strong pectoral fins; most have accessory air-breathing organs. Many bottom-dwelling fishes live in mud holes or rocky crevices. Marine eels and gobies commonly are found in such habitats and for the most part venture far beyond their cavelike homes. Some bottom dwellers, such as the clingfishes (Gobiesocidae), have developed powerful adhesive disks that enable them to remain in place on the substrate in areas such as rocky coasts, where the action of the waves is great.
The methods of reproduction in fishes are varied, but most fishes lay a large number of small eggs, fertilized and scattered outside of the body. The eggs of pelagic fishes usually remain suspended in the open water. Many shore and freshwater fishes lay eggs on the bottom or among plants. Some have adhesive eggs. The mortality of the young and especially of the eggs is very high, and often only a few individuals grow to maturity out of hundreds, thousands, and in some cases millions of eggs laid.
Males produce sperm, usually as a milky white substance called milt, in two (sometimes one) testes within the body cavity. In bony fishes a sperm duct leads from each testis to a urogenital opening behind the vent or anus. In sharks and rays and in cyclostomes the duct leads to a cloaca. Sometimes the pelvic fins are modified to help transmit the milt to the eggs at the female’s vent or on the substrate where the female has placed them. Sometimes accessory organs are used to fertilize females internally—for example, the claspers of many sharks and rays.
In the females the eggs are formed in two ovaries (sometimes only one) and pass through the ovaries to the urogenital opening and to the outside. In some fishes the eggs are fertilized internally but are shed before development takes place. Members of about a dozen families each of bony fishes (teleosts) and sharks bear live young. Many skates and rays also bear live young. In some bony fishes the eggs simply develop within the female, the young emerging when the eggs hatch (ovoviviparous). Others develop within the ovary and are nourished by ovarian tissues after hatching (viviparous). There are also other methods utilized by fishes to nourish young within the female. In all live-bearers the young are born at a relatively large size and are few in number. In one family of primarily marine fishes, the surfperches from the Pacific coast of North America, Japan, and Korea, the males of at least one species are born sexually mature, although they are not fully grown.
Some fishes are hermaphroditic—an individual producing both sperm and eggs, usually at different stages of its life. Self-fertilization, however, is probably rare.
Successful reproduction and, in many cases, defense of the eggs and the young are assured by rather stereotypical but often elaborate courtship and parental behaviour, either by the male or the female or both. Some fishes prepare nests by hollowing out depressions in the sand bottom (cichlids, for example), build nests with plant materials and sticky threads excreted by the kidneys (sticklebacks), or blow a cluster of mucus-covered bubbles at the water surface (gouramis). The eggs are laid in these structures. Some varieties of cichlids and catfishes incubate eggs in their mouths.
Some fishes, such as salmon, undergo long migrations from the ocean and up large rivers to spawn in the gravel beds where they themselves hatched (anadromous fishes). Some, such as the freshwater eels (family Anguillidae), live and grow to maturity in fresh water and migrate to the sea to spawn (catadromous fishes). Other fishes undertake shorter migrations from lakes into streams, within the ocean, or enter spawning habitats that they do not ordinarily occupy in other ways.
The basic structure and function of the fish body are similar to those of all other vertebrates. The usual four types of tissues are present: surface or epithelial, connective (bone, cartilage, and fibrous tissues, as well as their derivative, blood), nerve, and muscle tissues. In addition, the fish’s organs and organ systems parallel those of other vertebrates.
The typical fish body is streamlined and spindle-shaped, with an anterior head, a gill apparatus, and a heart, the latter lying in the midline just below the gill chamber. The body cavity, containing the vital organs, is situated behind the head in the lower anterior part of the body. The anus usually marks the posterior termination of the body cavity and most often occurs just in front of the base of the anal fin. The spinal cord and vertebral column continue from the posterior part of the head to the base of the tail fin, passing dorsal to the body cavity and through the caudal (tail) region behind the body cavity. Most of the body is of muscular tissue, a high proportion of which is necessitated by swimming. In the course of evolution this basic body plan has been modified repeatedly into the many varieties of fish shapes that exist today.
The skeleton forms an integral part of the fish’s locomotion system, as well as serving to protect vital parts. The internal skeleton consists of the skull bones (except for the roofing bones of the head, which are really part of the external skeleton), the vertebral column, and the fin supports (fin rays). The fin supports are derived from the external skeleton but will be treated here because of their close functional relationship to the internal skeleton. The internal skeleton of cyclostomes, sharks, and rays is of cartilage; that of many fossil groups and some primitive living fishes is mostly of cartilage but may include some bone. In place of the vertebral column, the earliest vertebrates had a fully developed notochord, a flexible stiff rod of viscous cells surrounded by a strong fibrous sheath. During the evolution of modern fishes the rod was replaced in part by cartilage and then by ossified cartilage. Sharks and rays retain a cartilaginous vertebral column; bony fishes have spool-shaped vertebrae that in the more primitive living forms only partially replace the notochord. The skull, including the gill arches and jaws of bony fishes, is fully, or at least partially, ossified. That of sharks and rays remains cartilaginous, at times partially replaced by calcium deposits but never by true bone.
The supportive elements of the fins (basal or radial bones or both) have changed greatly during fish evolution. Some of these changes are described in the section below (Evolution and paleontology). Most fishes possess a single dorsal fin on the midline of the back. Many have two and a few have three dorsal fins. The other fins are the single tail and anal fins and paired pelvic and pectoral fins. A small fin, the adipose fin, with hairlike fin rays, occurs in many of the relatively primitive teleosts (such as trout) on the back near the base of the caudal fin.
The skin of a fish must serve many functions. It aids in maintaining the osmotic balance, provides physical protection for the body, is the site of coloration, contains sensory receptors, and, in some fishes, functions in respiration. Mucous glands, which aid in maintaining the water balance and offer protection from bacteria, are extremely numerous in fish skin, especially in cyclostomes and teleosts. Since mucous glands are present in the modern lampreys, it is reasonable to assume that they were present in primitive fishes, such as the ancient Silurian and Devonian agnathans. Protection from abrasion and predation is another function of the fish skin, and dermal (skin) bone arose early in fish evolution in response to this need. It is thought that bone first evolved in skin and only later invaded the cartilaginous areas of the fish’s body, to provide additional support and protection. There is some argument as to which came first, cartilage or bone, and fossil evidence does not settle the question. In any event, dermal bone has played an important part in fish evolution and has different characteristics in different groups of fishes. Several groups are characterized at least in part by the kind of bony scales they possess.
Scales have played an important part in the evolution of fishes. Primitive fishes usually had thick bony plates or thick scales in several layers of bone, enamel, and related substances. Modern teleost fishes have scales of bone, which, while still protective, allow much more freedom of motion in the body. A few modern teleosts (some catfishes, sticklebacks, and others) have secondarily acquired bony plates in the skin. Modern and early sharks possessed placoid scales, a relatively primitive type of scale with a toothlike structure, consisting of an outside layer of enamel-like substance (vitrodentine), an inner layer of dentine, and a pulp cavity containing nerves and blood vessels. Primitive bony fishes had thick scales of either the ganoid or the cosmoid type. Cosmoid scales have a hard, enamel-like outer layer, an inner layer of cosmine (a form of dentine), and then a layer of vascular bone (isopedine). In ganoid scales the hard outer layer is different chemically and is called ganoin. Under this is a cosminelike layer and then a vascular bony layer. The thin, translucent bony scales of modern fishes, called cycloid and ctenoid (the latter distinguished by serrations at the edges), lack enameloid and dentine layers.
Skin has several other functions in fishes. It is well supplied with nerve endings and presumably receives tactile, thermal, and pain stimuli. Skin is also well supplied with blood vessels. Some fishes breathe in part through the skin, by the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the surrounding water and numerous small blood vessels near the skin surface.
Skin serves as protection through the control of coloration. Fishes exhibit an almost limitless range of colours. The colours often blend closely with the surroundings, effectively hiding the animal. Many fishes use bright colours for territorial advertisement or as recognition marks for other members of their own species, or sometimes for members of other species. Many fishes can change their colour to a greater or lesser degree, by movement of pigment within the pigment cells (chromatophores). Black pigment cells (melanophores), of almost universal occurrence in fishes, are often juxtaposed with other pigment cells. When placed beneath iridocytes or leucophores (bearing the silvery or white pigment guanine), melanophores produce structural colours of blue and green. These colours are often extremely intense, because they are formed by refraction of light through the needlelike crystals of guanine. The blue and green refracted colours are often relatively pure, lacking the red and yellow rays, which have been absorbed by the black pigment (melanin) of the melanophores. Yellow, orange, and red colours are produced by erythrophores, cells containing the appropriate carotenoid pigments. Other colours are produced by combinations of melanophores, erythrophores, and iridocytes.
The major portion of the body of most fishes consists of muscles. Most of the mass is trunk musculature, the fin muscles usually being relatively small. The caudal fin is usually the most powerful fin, being moved by the trunk musculature. The body musculature is usually arranged in rows of chevron-shaped segments on each side. Contractions of these segments, each attached to adjacent vertebrae and vertebral processes, bends the body on the vertebral joint, producing successive undulations of the body, passing from the head to the tail, and producing driving strokes of the tail. It is the latter that provides the strong forward movement for most fishes.
The digestive system, in a functional sense, starts at the mouth, with the teeth used to capture prey or collect plant foods. Mouth shape and tooth structure vary greatly in fishes, depending on the kind of food normally eaten. Most fishes are predacious, feeding on small invertebrates or other fishes and have simple conical teeth on the jaws, on at least some of the bones of the roof of the mouth, and on special gill arch structures just in front of the esophagus. The latter are throat teeth. Most predacious fishes swallow their prey whole, and the teeth are used for grasping and holding prey, for orienting prey to be swallowed (head first) and for working the prey toward the esophagus. There are a variety of tooth types in fishes. Some fishes, such as sharks and piranhas, have cutting teeth for biting chunks out of their victims. A shark’s tooth, although superficially like that of a piranha, appears in many respects to be a modified scale, while that of the piranha is like that of other bony fishes, consisting of dentine and enamel. Parrot fishes have beaklike mouths with short incisor-like teeth for breaking off coral and have heavy pavementlike throat teeth for crushing the coral. Some catfishes have small brushlike teeth, arranged in rows on the jaws, for scraping plant and animal growth from rocks. Many fishes (such as the Cyprinidae or minnows) have no jaw teeth at all but have very strong throat teeth.
Some fishes gather planktonic food by straining it from their gill cavities with numerous elongate stiff rods (gill rakers) anchored by one end to the gill bars. The food collected on these rods is passed to the throat, where it is swallowed. Most fishes have only short gill rakers that help keep food particles from escaping out the mouth cavity into the gill chamber.
Once reaching the throat, food enters a short, often greatly distensible esophagus, a simple tube with a muscular wall leading into a stomach. The stomach varies greatly in fishes, depending upon the diet. In most predacious fishes it is a simple straight or curved tube or pouch with a muscular wall and a glandular lining. Food is largely digested there and leaves the stomach in liquid form.
Between the stomach and the intestine, ducts enter the digestive tube from the liver and pancreas. The liver is a large, clearly defined organ. The pancreas may be embedded in it, diffused through it, or broken into small parts spread along some of the intestine. The junction between the stomach and the intestine is marked by a muscular valve. Pyloric ceca (blind sacs) occur in some fishes at this junction and have a digestive or absorptive function or both.
The intestine itself is quite variable in length, depending upon the fish’s diet. It is short in predacious forms, sometimes no longer than the body cavity, but long in herbivorous forms, being coiled and several times longer than the entire length of the fish in some species of South American catfishes. The intestine is primarily an organ for absorbing nutrients into the bloodstream. The larger its internal surface, the greater its absorptive efficiency, and a spiral valve is one method of increasing its absorption surface.
Sharks, rays, chimaeras, lungfishes, surviving chondrosteans, holosteans, and even a few of the more primitive teleosts have a spiral valve or at least traces of it in the intestine. Most modern teleosts have increased the area of the intestinal walls by having numerous folds and villi (fingerlike projections) somewhat like those in humans. Undigested substances are passed to the exterior through the anus in most teleost fishes. In lungfishes, sharks, and rays, it is first passed through the cloaca, a common cavity receiving the intestinal opening and the ducts from the urogenital system.
Oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolve in water, and most fishes exchange dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide in water by means of the gills. The gills lie behind and to the side of the mouth cavity and consist of fleshy filaments supported by the gill arches and filled with blood vessels, which give gills a bright red colour. Water taken in continuously through the mouth passes backward between the gill bars and over the gill filaments, where the exchange of gases takes place. The gills are protected by a gill cover in teleosts and many other fishes but by flaps of skin in sharks, rays, and some of the older fossil fish groups. The blood capillaries in the gill filaments are close to the gill surface to take up oxygen from the water and to give up excess carbon dioxide to the water.
Most modern fishes have a hydrostatic (ballast) organ, called the swim bladder, that lies in the body cavity just below the kidney and above the stomach and intestine. It originated as a diverticulum of the digestive canal. In advanced teleosts, especially the acanthopterygians, the bladder has lost its connection with the digestive tract, a condition called physoclistic. The connection has been retained (physostomous) by many relatively primitive teleosts. In several unrelated lines of fishes, the bladder has become specialized as a lung or, at least, as a highly vascularized accessory breathing organ. Some fishes with such accessory organs are obligate air breathers and will drown if denied access to the surface, even in well-oxygenated water. Fishes with a hydrostatic form of swim bladder can control their depth by regulating the amount of gas in the bladder. The gas, mostly oxygen, is secreted into the bladder by special glands, rendering the fish more buoyant; the gas is absorbed into the bloodstream by another special organ, reducing the overall buoyancy and allowing the fish to sink. Some deep-sea fishes may have oils, rather than gas, in the bladder. Other deep-sea and some bottom-living forms have much-reduced swim bladders or have lost the organ entirely.
The swim bladder of fishes follows the same developmental pattern as the lungs of land vertebrates. There is no doubt that the two structures have the same historical origin in primitive fishes. More or less intermediate forms still survive among the more primitive types of fishes, such as the lungfishes Lepidosiren and Protopterus.
The circulatory, or blood vascular, system consists of the heart, the arteries, the capillaries, and the veins. It is in the capillaries that the interchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and other substances such as hormones and waste products takes place. The capillaries lead to the veins, which return the venous blood with its waste products to the heart, kidneys, and gills. There are two kinds of capillary beds: those in the gills and those in the rest of the body. The heart, a folded continuous muscular tube with three or four saclike enlargements, undergoes rhythmic contractions and receives venous blood in a sinus venosus. It passes the blood to an auricle and then into a thick muscular pump, the ventricle. From the ventricle the blood goes to a bulbous structure at the base of a ventral aorta just below the gills. The blood passes to the afferent (receiving) arteries of the gill arches and then to the gill capillaries. There waste gases are given off to the environment, and oxygen is absorbed. The oxygenated blood enters efferent (exuant) arteries of the gill arches and then flows into the dorsal aorta. From there blood is distributed to the tissues and organs of the body. One-way valves prevent backflow. The circulation of fishes thus differs from that of the reptiles, birds, and mammals in that oxygenated blood is not returned to the heart prior to distribution to the other parts of the body.
The primary excretory organ in fishes, as in other vertebrates, is the kidney. In fishes some excretion also takes place in the digestive tract, skin, and especially the gills (where ammonia is given off). Compared with land vertebrates, fishes have a special problem in maintaining their internal environment at a constant concentration of water and dissolved substances, such as salts. Proper balance of the internal environment (homeostasis) of a fish is in a great part maintained by the excretory system, especially the kidney.
The kidney, gills, and skin play an important role in maintaining a fish’s internal environment and checking the effects of osmosis. Marine fishes live in an environment in which the water around them has a greater concentration of salts than they can have inside their body and still maintain life. Freshwater fishes, on the other hand, live in water with a much lower concentration of salts than they require inside their bodies. Osmosis tends to promote the loss of water from the body of a marine fish and absorption of water by that of a freshwater fish. Mucus in the skin tends to slow the process but is not a sufficient barrier to prevent the movement of fluids through the permeable skin. When solutions on two sides of a permeable membrane have different concentrations of dissolved substances, water will pass through the membrane into the more concentrated solution, while the dissolved chemicals move into the area of lower concentration (diffusion).
The kidney of freshwater fishes is often larger in relation to body weight than that of marine fishes. In both groups the kidney excretes wastes from the body, but the kidney of freshwater fishes also excretes large amounts of water, counteracting the water absorbed through the skin. Freshwater fishes tend to lose salt to the environment and must replace it. They get some salt from their food, but the gills and skin inside the mouth actively absorb salt from water passed through the mouth. This absorption is performed by special cells capable of moving salts against the diffusion gradient. Freshwater fishes drink very little water and take in little water with their food.
Marine fishes must conserve water, and therefore their kidneys excrete little water. To maintain their water balance, marine fishes drink large quantities of seawater, retaining most of the water and excreting the salt. Most nitrogenous waste in marine fishes appears to be secreted by the gills as ammonia. Marine fishes can excrete salt by clusters of special cells (chloride cells) in the gills.
There are several teleosts—for example, the salmon—that travel between fresh water and seawater and must adjust to the reversal of osmotic gradients. They adjust their physiological processes by spending time (often surprisingly little time) in the intermediate brackish environment.
Marine hagfishes, sharks, and rays have osmotic concentrations in their blood about equal to that of seawater and so do not have to drink water nor perform much physiological work to maintain their osmotic balance. In sharks and rays the osmotic concentration is kept high by retention of urea in the blood. Freshwater sharks have a lowered concentration of urea in the blood.
Endocrine glands secrete their products into the bloodstream and body tissues and, along with the central nervous system, control and regulate many kinds of body functions. Cyclostomes have a well-developed endocrine system, and presumably it was well developed in the early Agnatha, ancestral to modern fishes. Although the endocrine system in fishes is similar to that of higher vertebrates, there are numerous differences in detail. The pituitary, the thyroid, the suprarenals, the adrenals, the pancreatic islets, the sex glands (ovaries and testes), the inner wall of the intestine, and the bodies of the ultimobranchial gland make up the endocrine system in fishes. There are some others whose function is not well understood. These organs regulate sexual activity and reproduction, growth, osmotic pressure, general metabolic activities such as the storage of fat and the utilization of foodstuffs, blood pressure, and certain aspects of skin colour. Many of these activities are also controlled in part by the central nervous system, which works with the endocrine system in maintaining the life of a fish. Some parts of the endocrine system are developmentally, and undoubtedly evolutionarily, derived from the nervous system.
As in all vertebrates, the nervous system of fishes is the primary mechanism coordinating body activities, as well as integrating these activities in the appropriate manner with stimuli from the environment. The central nervous system, consisting of the brain and spinal cord, is the primary integrating mechanism. The peripheral nervous system, consisting of nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord to various body organs, carries sensory information from special receptor organs such as the eyes, internal ears, nares (sense of smell), taste glands, and others to the integrating centres of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system also carries information via different nerve cells from the integrating centres of the brain and spinal cord. This coded information is carried to the various organs and body systems, such as the skeletal muscular system, for appropriate action in response to the original external or internal stimulus. Another branch of the nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, helps to coordinate the activities of many glands and organs and is itself closely connected to the integrating centres of the brain.
The brain of the fish is divided into several anatomical and functional parts, all closely interconnected but each serving as the primary centre of integrating particular kinds of responses and activities. Several of these centres or parts are primarily associated with one type of sensory perception, such as sight, hearing, or smell (olfaction).
The sense of smell is important in almost all fishes. Certain eels with tiny eyes depend mostly on smell for location of food. The olfactory, or nasal, organ of fishes is located on the dorsal surface of the snout. The lining of the nasal organ has special sensory cells that perceive chemicals dissolved in the water, such as substances from food material, and send sensory information to the brain by way of the first cranial nerve. Odour also serves as an alarm system. Many fishes, especially various species of freshwater minnows, react with alarm to a chemical released from the skin of an injured member of their own species.
Many fishes have a well-developed sense of taste, and tiny pitlike taste buds or organs are located not only within their mouth cavities but also over their heads and parts of their body. Catfishes, which often have poor vision, have barbels (“whiskers”) that serve as supplementary taste organs, those around the mouth being actively used to search out food on the bottom. Some species of naturally blind cave fishes are especially well supplied with taste buds, which often cover most of their body surface.
Sight is extremely important in most fishes. The eye of a fish is basically like that of all other vertebrates, but the eyes of fishes are extremely varied in structure and adaptation. In general, fishes living in dark and dim water habitats have large eyes, unless they have specialized in some compensatory way so that another sense (such as smell) is dominant, in which case the eyes will often be reduced. Fishes living in brightly lighted shallow waters often will have relatively small but efficient eyes. Cyclostomes have somewhat less elaborate eyes than other fishes, with skin stretched over the eyeball perhaps making their vision somewhat less effective. Most fishes have a spherical lens and accommodate their vision to far or near subjects by moving the lens within the eyeball. A few sharks accommodate by changing the shape of the lens, as in land vertebrates. Those fishes that are heavily dependent upon the eyes have especially strong muscles for accommodation. Most fishes see well, despite the restrictions imposed by frequent turbidity of the water and by light refraction.
Fossil evidence suggests that colour vision evolved in fishes more than 300 million years ago, but not all living fishes have retained this ability. Experimental evidence indicates that many shallow-water fishes, if not all, have colour vision and see some colours especially well, but some bottom-dwelling shore fishes live in areas where the water is sufficiently deep to filter out most if not all colours, and these fishes apparently never see colours. When tested in shallow water, they apparently are unable to respond to colour differences.
Sound perception and balance are intimately associated senses in a fish. The organs of hearing are entirely internal, located within the skull, on each side of the brain and somewhat behind the eyes. Sound waves, especially those of low frequencies, travel readily through water and impinge directly upon the bones and fluids of the head and body, to be transmitted to the hearing organs. Fishes readily respond to sound; for example, a trout conditioned to escape by the approach of fishermen will take flight upon perceiving footsteps on a stream bank even if it cannot see a fisherman. Compared with humans, however, the range of sound frequencies heard by fishes is greatly restricted. Many fishes communicate with each other by producing sounds in their swim bladders, in their throats by rasping their teeth, and in other ways.
A fish or other vertebrate seldom has to rely on a single type of sensory information to determine the nature of the environment around it. A catfish uses taste and touch when examining a food object with its oral barbels. Like most other animals, fishes have many touch receptors over their body surface. Pain and temperature receptors also are present in fishes and presumably produce the same kind of information to a fish as to humans. Fishes react in a negative fashion to stimuli that would be painful to human beings, suggesting that they feel a sensation of pain.
An important sensory system in fishes that is absent in other vertebrates (except some amphibians) is the lateral line system. This consists of a series of heavily innervated small canals located in the skin and bone around the eyes, along the lower jaw, over the head, and down the mid-side of the body, where it is associated with the scales. Intermittently along these canals are located tiny sensory organs (pit organs) that apparently detect changes in pressure. The system allows a fish to sense changes in water currents and pressure, thereby helping the fish to orient itself to the various changes that occur in the physical environment.
Although a great many fossil fishes have been found and described, they represent a tiny portion of the long and complex evolution of fishes, and knowledge of fish evolution remains relatively fragmentary. In the classification presented in this article, fishlike vertebrates are divided into seven categories, the members of each having a different basic structural organization and different physical and physiological adaptations for the problems presented by the environment. The broad basic pattern has been one of successive replacement of older groups by newer, better-adapted groups. One or a few members of a group evolved a basically more efficient means of feeding, breathing, or swimming or several better ways of living. These better-adapted groups then forced the extinction of members of the older group with which they competed for available food, breeding places, or other necessities of life. As the new fishes became well established, some of them evolved further and adapted to other habitats, where they continued to replace members of the old group already there. The process was repeated until all or almost all members of the old group in a variety of habitats had been replaced by members of the newer evolutionary line.
The earliest vertebrate fossils of certain relationships are fragments of dermal armour of jawless fishes (superclass Agnatha, order Heterostraci) from the Upper Ordovician Period in North America, about 450 million years in age. Early Ordovician toothlike fragments from the former Soviet Union are less certainly remains of agnathans. It is uncertain whether the North American jawless fishes inhabited shallow coastal marine waters, where their remains became fossilized, or were freshwater vertebrates washed into coastal deposits by stream action.
Jawless fishes probably arose from ancient, small, soft-bodied filter-feeding organisms much like and probably also ancestral to the modern sand-dwelling filter feeders, the Cephalochordata (Amphioxus and its relatives). The body in the ancestral animals was probably stiffened by a notochord. Although a vertebrate origin in fresh water is much debated by paleontologists, it is possible that mobility of the body and protection provided by dermal armour arose in response to streamflow in the freshwater environment and to the need to escape from and resist the clawed invertebrate eurypterids that lived in the same waters. Because of the marine distribution of the surviving primitive chordates, however, many paleontologists doubt that the vertebrates arose in fresh water.
Heterostracan remains are next found in what appear to be delta deposits in two North American localities of Silurian age. By the close of the Silurian, about 416 million years ago, European heterostracan remains are found in what appear to be delta or coastal deposits. In the Late Silurian of the Baltic area, lagoon or freshwater deposits yield jawless fishes of the order Osteostraci. Somewhat later in the Silurian from the same region, layers contain fragments of jawed acanthodians, the earliest group of jawed vertebrates, and of jawless fishes. These layers lie between marine beds but appear to be washed out from fresh waters of a coastal region.
It is evident, therefore, that by the end of the Silurian both jawed and jawless vertebrates were well established and already must have had a long history of development. Yet paleontologists have remains only of specialized forms that cannot have been the ancestors of the placoderms and bony fishes that appear in the next period, the Devonian. No fossils are known of the more primitive ancestors of the agnathans and acanthodians. The extensive marine beds of the Silurian and those of the Ordovician are essentially void of vertebrate history. It is believed that the ancestors of fishlike vertebrates evolved in upland fresh waters, where whatever few and relatively small fossil beds were made probably have been long since eroded away. Remains of the earliest vertebrates may never be found.
By the close of the Silurian, all known orders of jawless vertebrates had evolved, except perhaps the modern cyclostomes, which are without the hard parts that ordinarily are preserved as fossils. Cyclostomes were unknown as fossils until 1968, when a lamprey of modern body structure was reported from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Illinois, in deposits more than 300 million years old. Fossil evidence of the four orders of armoured jawless vertebrates is absent from deposits later than the Devonian. Presumably, these vertebrates became extinct at that time, being replaced by the more efficient and probably more aggressive placoderms, acanthodians, selachians (sharks and relatives), and by early bony fishes. Cyclostomes survived probably because early on they evolved from anaspid agnathans and developed a rasping tonguelike structure and a sucking mouth, enabling them to prey on other fishes. With this way of life they apparently had no competition from other fish groups. Cyclostomes, the hagfishes and lampreys, were once thought to be closely related because of the similarity in their suctorial mouths, but it is now understood that the hagfishes, order Myxiniformes, are the most primitive living chordates, and they are classified separately from the lampreys, order Petromyzontiformes.
Early jawless vertebrates probably fed on tiny organisms by filter feeding, as do the larvae of their descendants, the modern lampreys. The gill cavity of the early agnathans was large. It is thought that small organisms taken from the bottom by a nibbling action of the mouth, or more certainly by a sucking action through the mouth, were passed into the gill cavity along with water for breathing. Small organisms then were strained out by the gill apparatus and directed to the food canal. The gill apparatus thus evolved as a feeding, as well as a breathing, structure. The head and gills in the agnathans were protected by a heavy dermal armour; the tail region was free, allowing motion for swimming.
Most important for the evolution of fishes and vertebrates in general was the early appearance of bone, cartilage, and enamel-like substance. These materials became modified in later fishes, enabling them to adapt to many aquatic environments and finally even to land. Other basic organs and tissues of the vertebrates—such as the central nervous system, heart, liver, digestive tract, kidney, and circulatory system— undoubtedly were present in the ancestors of the agnathans. In many ways, bone, both external and internal, was the key to vertebrate evolution.
The next class of fishes to appear was the Acanthodii, containing the earliest known jawed vertebrates, which arose in the Late Silurian, more than 416 million years ago. The acanthodians declined after the Devonian but lasted into the Early Permian, a little less than 280 million years ago. The first complete specimens appear in Lower Devonian freshwater deposits, but later in the Devonian and Permian some members appear to have been marine. Most were small fishes, not more than 75 cm (approximately 30 inches) in length.
We know nothing of the ancestors of the acanthodians. They must have arisen from some jawless vertebrate, probably in fresh water. They appear to have been active swimmers with almost no head armour but with large eyes, indicating that they depended heavily on vision. Perhaps they preyed on invertebrates. The rows of spines and spinelike fins between the pectoral and pelvic fins give some credence to the idea that paired fins arose from “fin folds” along the body sides.
The relationships of the acanthodians to other jawed vertebrates are obscure. They possess features found in both sharks and bony fishes. They are like early bony fishes in possessing ganoidlike scales and a partially ossified internal skeleton. Certain aspects of the jaw appear to be more like those of bony fishes than sharks, but the bony fin spines and certain aspects of the gill apparatus would seem to favour relationships with early sharks. Acanthodians do not seem particularly close to the Placodermi, although, like the placoderms, they apparently possessed less efficient tooth replacement and tooth structure than the sharks and the bony fishes, possibly one reason for their subsequent extinction.
Fish, any of approximately 34,000 species of vertebrate animals (phylum Chordata) found in the fresh and salt waters of the world. Living species range from the primitive jawless lampreys and hagfishes through the cartilaginous sharks, skates, and rays to the abundant and diverse bony fishes. Most fish species are cold-blooded; however, one species, the opah (Lampris guttatus), is warm-blooded.
The term fish is applied to a variety of vertebrates of several evolutionary lines. It describes a life-form rather than a taxonomic group. As members of the phylum Chordata, fish share certain features with other vertebrates. These features are gill slits at some point in the life cycle, a notochord, or skeletal supporting rod, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, and a tail. Living fishes represent some five classes, which are as distinct from one another as are the four classes of familiar air-breathing animals—amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. For example, the jawless fishes (Agnatha) have gills in pouches and lack limb girdles. Extant agnathans are the lampreys and the hagfishes. As the name implies, the skeletons of fishes of the class Chondrichthyes (from chondr, “cartilage,” and ichthyes, “fish”) are made entirely of cartilage. Modern fish of this class lack a swim bladder, and their scales and teeth are made up of the same placoid material. Sharks, skates, and rays are examples of cartilaginous fishes. The bony fishes are by far the largest class. Examples range from the tiny seahorse to the 450-kg (1,000-pound) blue marlin, from the flattened soles and flounders to the boxy puffers and ocean sunfishes. Unlike the scales of the cartilaginous fishes, those of bony fishes, when present, grow throughout life and are made up of thin overlapping plates of bone. Bony fishes also have an operculum that covers the gill slits.
The study of fishes, the science of ichthyology, is of broad importance. Fishes are of interest to humans for many reasons, the most important being their relationship with and dependence on the environment. A more obvious reason for interest in fishes is their role as a moderate but important part of the world’s food supply. This resource, once thought unlimited, is now realized to be finite and in delicate balance with the biological, chemical, and physical factors of the aquatic environment. Overfishing, pollution, and alteration of the environment are the chief enemies of proper fisheries management, both in fresh waters and in the ocean. (For a detailed discussion of the technology and economics of fisheries, see commercial fishing.) Another practical reason for studying fishes is their use in disease control. As predators on mosquito larvae, they help curb malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.
Fishes are valuable laboratory animals in many aspects of medical and biological research. For example, the readiness of many fishes to acclimate to captivity has allowed biologists to study behaviour, physiology, and even ecology under relatively natural conditions. Fishes have been especially important in the study of animal behaviour, where research on fishes has provided a broad base for the understanding of the more flexible behaviour of the higher vertebrates. The zebra fish is used as a model in studies of gene expression.
There are aesthetic and recreational reasons for an interest in fishes. Millions of people keep live fishes in home aquariums for the simple pleasure of observing the beauty and behaviour of animals otherwise unfamiliar to them. Aquarium fishes provide a personal challenge to many aquarists, allowing them to test their ability to keep a small section of the natural environment in their homes. Sportfishing is another way of enjoying the natural environment, also indulged in by millions of people every year. Interest in aquarium fishes and sportfishing supports multimillion-dollar industries throughout the world.
Fishes have been in existence for more than 450 million years, during which time they have evolved repeatedly to fit into almost every conceivable type of aquatic habitat. In a sense, land vertebrates are simply highly modified fishes: when fishes colonized the land habitat, they became tetrapod (four-legged) land vertebrates. The popular conception of a fish as a slippery, streamlined aquatic animal that possesses fins and breathes by gills applies to many fishes, but far more fishes deviate from that conception than conform to it. For example, the body is elongate in many forms and greatly shortened in others; the body is flattened in some (principally in bottom-dwelling fishes) and laterally compressed in many others; the fins may be elaborately extended, forming intricate shapes, or they may be reduced or even lost; and the positions of the mouth, eyes, nostrils, and gill openings vary widely. Air breathers have appeared in several evolutionary lines.
Many fishes are cryptically coloured and shaped, closely matching their respective environments; others are among the most brilliantly coloured of all organisms, with a wide range of hues, often of striking intensity, on a single individual. The brilliance of pigments may be enhanced by the surface structure of the fish, so that it almost seems to glow. A number of unrelated fishes have actual light-producing organs. Many fishes are able to alter their coloration—some for the purpose of camouflage, others for the enhancement of behavioral signals.
Fishes range in adult length from less than 10 mm (0.4 inch) to more than 20 metres (60 feet) and in weight from about 1.5 grams (less than 0.06 ounce) to many thousands of kilograms. Some live in shallow thermal springs at temperatures slightly above 42 °C (100 °F), others in cold Arctic seas a few degrees below 0 °C (32 °F) or in cold deep waters more than 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) beneath the ocean surface. The structural and, especially, the physiological adaptations for life at such extremes are relatively poorly known and provide the scientifically curious with great incentive for study.
Almost all natural bodies of water bear fish life, the exceptions being very hot thermal ponds and extremely salt-alkaline lakes, such as the Dead Sea in Asia and the Great Salt Lake in North America. The present distribution of fishes is a result of the geological history and development of Earth as well as the ability of fishes to undergo evolutionary change and to adapt to the available habitats. Fishes may be seen to be distributed according to habitat and according to geographical area. Major habitat differences are marine and freshwater. For the most part, the fishes in a marine habitat differ from those in a freshwater habitat, even in adjacent areas, but some, such as the salmon, migrate from one to the other. The freshwater habitats may be seen to be of many kinds. Fishes found in mountain torrents, Arctic lakes, tropical lakes, temperate streams, and tropical rivers will all differ from each other, both in obvious gross structure and in physiological attributes. Even in closely adjacent habitats where, for example, a tropical mountain torrent enters a lowland stream, the fish fauna will differ. The marine habitats can be divided into deep ocean floors (benthic), mid-water oceanic (bathypelagic), surface oceanic (pelagic), rocky coast, sandy coast, muddy shores, bays, estuaries, and others. Also, for example, rocky coastal shores in tropical and temperate regions will have different fish faunas, even when such habitats occur along the same coastline.
Although much is known about the present geographical distribution of fishes, far less is known about how that distribution came about. Many parts of the fish fauna of the fresh waters of North America and Eurasia are related and undoubtedly have a common origin. The faunas of Africa and South America are related, extremely old, and probably an expression of the drifting apart of the two continents. The fauna of southern Asia is related to that of Central Asia, and some of it appears to have entered Africa. The extremely large shore-fish faunas of the Indian and tropical Pacific oceans comprise a related complex, but the tropical shore fauna of the Atlantic, although containing Indo-Pacific components, is relatively limited and probably younger. The Arctic and Antarctic marine faunas are quite different from each other. The shore fauna of the North Pacific is quite distinct, and that of the North Atlantic more limited and probably younger. Pelagic oceanic fishes, especially those in deep waters, are similar the world over, showing little geographical isolation in terms of family groups. The deep oceanic habitat is very much the same throughout the world, but species differences do exist, showing geographical areas determined by oceanic currents and water masses.
All aspects of the life of a fish are closely correlated with adaptation to the total environment, physical, chemical, and biological. In studies, all the interdependent aspects of fish, such as behaviour, locomotion, reproduction, and physical and physiological characteristics, must be taken into account.
Correlated with their adaptation to an extremely wide variety of habitats is the extremely wide variety of life cycles that fishes display. The great majority hatch from relatively small eggs a few days to several weeks or more after the eggs are scattered in the water. Newly hatched young are still partially undeveloped and are called larvae until body structures such as fins, skeleton, and some organs are fully formed. Larval life is often very short, usually less than a few weeks, but it can be very long, some lampreys continuing as larvae for at least five years. Young and larval fishes, before reaching sexual maturity, must grow considerably, and their small size and other factors often dictate that they live in a habitat different than that of the adults. For example, most tropical marine shore fishes have pelagic larvae. Larval food also is different, and larval fishes often live in shallow waters, where they may be less exposed to predators.
After a fish reaches adult size, the length of its life is subject to many factors, such as innate rates of aging, predation pressure, and the nature of the local climate. The longevity of a species in the protected environment of an aquarium may have nothing to do with how long members of that species live in the wild. Many small fishes live only one to three years at the most. In some species, however, individuals may live as long as 10 or 20 or even 100 years.
Fish behaviour is a complicated and varied subject. As in almost all animals with a central nervous system, the nature of a response of an individual fish to stimuli from its environment depends upon the inherited characteristics of its nervous system, on what it has learned from past experience, and on the nature of the stimuli. Compared with the variety of human responses, however, that of a fish is stereotyped, not subject to much modification by “thought” or learning, and investigators must guard against anthropomorphic interpretations of fish behaviour.
Fishes perceive the world around them by the usual senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste and by special lateral line water-current detectors. In the few fishes that generate electric fields, a process that might best be called electrolocation aids in perception. One or another of these senses often is emphasized at the expense of others, depending upon the fish’s other adaptations. In fishes with large eyes, the sense of smell may be reduced; others, with small eyes, hunt and feed primarily by smell (such as some eels).
Specialized behaviour is primarily concerned with the three most important activities in the fish’s life: feeding, reproduction, and escape from enemies. Schooling behaviour of sardines on the high seas, for instance, is largely a protective device to avoid enemies, but it is also associated with and modified by their breeding and feeding requirements. Predatory fishes are often solitary, lying in wait to dart suddenly after their prey, a kind of locomotion impossible for beaked parrot fishes, which feed on coral, swimming in small groups from one coral head to the next. In addition, some predatory fishes that inhabit pelagic environments, such as tunas, often school.
Sleep in fishes, all of which lack true eyelids, consists of a seemingly listless state in which the fish maintains its balance but moves slowly. If attacked or disturbed, most can dart away. A few kinds of fishes lie on the bottom to sleep. Most catfishes, some loaches, and some eels and electric fishes are strictly nocturnal, being active and hunting for food during the night and retiring during the day to holes, thick vegetation, or other protective parts of the environment.
Communication between members of a species or between members of two or more species often is extremely important, especially in breeding behaviour (see below Reproduction). The mode of communication may be visual, as between the small so-called cleaner fish and a large fish of a very different species. The larger fish often allows the cleaner to enter its mouth to remove gill parasites. The cleaner is recognized by its distinctive colour and actions and therefore is not eaten, even if the larger fish is normally a predator. Communication is often chemical, signals being sent by specific chemicals called pheromones.
Many fishes have a streamlined body and swim freely in open water. Fish locomotion is closely correlated with habitat and ecological niche (the general position of the animal to its environment).
Many fishes in both marine and fresh waters swim at the surface and have mouths adapted to feed best (and sometimes only) at the surface. Often such fishes are long and slender, able to dart at surface insects or at other surface fishes and in turn to dart away from predators; needlefishes, halfbeaks, and topminnows (such as killifish and mosquito fish) are good examples. Oceanic flying fishes escape their predators by gathering speed above the water surface, with the lower lobe of the tail providing thrust in the water. They then glide hundreds of yards on enlarged, winglike pectoral and pelvic fins. South American freshwater flying fishes escape their enemies by jumping and propelling their strongly keeled bodies out of the water.
So-called mid-water swimmers, the most common type of fish, are of many kinds and live in many habitats. The powerful fusiform tunas and the trouts, for example, are adapted for strong, fast swimming, the tunas to capture prey speedily in the open ocean and the trouts to cope with the swift currents of streams and rivers. The trout body form is well adapted to many habitats. Fishes that live in relatively quiet waters such as bays or lake shores or slow rivers usually are not strong, fast swimmers but are capable of short, quick bursts of speed to escape a predator. Many of these fishes have their sides flattened, examples being the sunfish and the freshwater angelfish of aquarists. Fish associated with the bottom or substrate usually are slow swimmers. Open-water plankton-feeding fishes almost always remain fusiform and are capable of rapid, strong movement (for example, sardines and herrings of the open ocean and also many small minnows of streams and lakes).
Bottom-living fishes are of many kinds and have undergone many types of modification of their body shape and swimming habits. Rays, which evolved from strong-swimming mid-water sharks, usually stay close to the bottom and move by undulating their large pectoral fins. Flounders live in a similar habitat and move over the bottom by undulating the entire body. Many bottom fishes dart from place to place, resting on the bottom between movements, a motion common in gobies. One goby relative, the mudskipper, has taken to living at the edge of pools along the shore of muddy mangrove swamps. It escapes its enemies by flipping rapidly over the mud, out of the water. Some catfishes, synbranchid eels, the so-called climbing perch, and a few other fishes venture out over damp ground to find more promising waters than those that they left. They move by wriggling their bodies, sometimes using strong pectoral fins; most have accessory air-breathing organs. Many bottom-dwelling fishes live in mud holes or rocky crevices. Marine eels and gobies commonly are found in such habitats and for the most part venture far beyond their cavelike homes. Some bottom dwellers, such as the clingfishes (Gobiesocidae), have developed powerful adhesive disks that enable them to remain in place on the substrate in areas such as rocky coasts, where the action of the waves is great.
The methods of reproduction in fishes are varied, but most fishes lay a large number of small eggs, fertilized and scattered outside of the body. The eggs of pelagic fishes usually remain suspended in the open water. Many shore and freshwater fishes lay eggs on the bottom or among plants. Some have adhesive eggs. The mortality of the young and especially of the eggs is very high, and often only a few individuals grow to maturity out of hundreds, thousands, and in some cases millions of eggs laid.
Males produce sperm, usually as a milky white substance called milt, in two (sometimes one) testes within the body cavity. In bony fishes a sperm duct leads from each testis to a urogenital opening behind the vent or anus. In sharks and rays and in cyclostomes the duct leads to a cloaca. Sometimes the pelvic fins are modified to help transmit the milt to the eggs at the female’s vent or on the substrate where the female has placed them. Sometimes accessory organs are used to fertilize females internally—for example, the claspers of many sharks and rays.
In the females the eggs are formed in two ovaries (sometimes only one) and pass through the ovaries to the urogenital opening and to the outside. In some fishes the eggs are fertilized internally but are shed before development takes place. Members of about a dozen families each of bony fishes (teleosts) and sharks bear live young. Many skates and rays also bear live young. In some bony fishes the eggs simply develop within the female, the young emerging when the eggs hatch (ovoviviparous). Others develop within the ovary and are nourished by ovarian tissues after hatching (viviparous). There are also other methods utilized by fishes to nourish young within the female. In all live-bearers the young are born at a relatively large size and are few in number. In one family of primarily marine fishes, the surfperches from the Pacific coast of North America, Japan, and Korea, the males of at least one species are born sexually mature, although they are not fully grown.
Some fishes are hermaphroditic—an individual producing both sperm and eggs, usually at different stages of its life. Self-fertilization, however, is probably rare.
Successful reproduction and, in many cases, defense of the eggs and the young are assured by rather stereotypical but often elaborate courtship and parental behaviour, either by the male or the female or both. Some fishes prepare nests by hollowing out depressions in the sand bottom (cichlids, for example), build nests with plant materials and sticky threads excreted by the kidneys (sticklebacks), or blow a cluster of mucus-covered bubbles at the water surface (gouramis). The eggs are laid in these structures. Some varieties of cichlids and catfishes incubate eggs in their mouths.
Some fishes, such as salmon, undergo long migrations from the ocean and up large rivers to spawn in the gravel beds where they themselves hatched (anadromous fishes). Some, such as the freshwater eels (family Anguillidae), live and grow to maturity in fresh water and migrate to the sea to spawn (catadromous fishes). Other fishes undertake shorter migrations from lakes into streams, within the ocean, or enter spawning habitats that they do not ordinarily occupy in other ways.
The basic structure and function of the fish body are similar to those of all other vertebrates. The usual four types of tissues are present: surface or epithelial, connective (bone, cartilage, and fibrous tissues, as well as their derivative, blood), nerve, and muscle tissues. In addition, the fish’s organs and organ systems parallel those of other vertebrates.
The typical fish body is streamlined and spindle-shaped, with an anterior head, a gill apparatus, and a heart, the latter lying in the midline just below the gill chamber. The body cavity, containing the vital organs, is situated behind the head in the lower anterior part of the body. The anus usually marks the posterior termination of the body cavity and most often occurs just in front of the base of the anal fin. The spinal cord and vertebral column continue from the posterior part of the head to the base of the tail fin, passing dorsal to the body cavity and through the caudal (tail) region behind the body cavity. Most of the body is of muscular tissue, a high proportion of which is necessitated by swimming. In the course of evolution this basic body plan has been modified repeatedly into the many varieties of fish shapes that exist today.
The skeleton forms an integral part of the fish’s locomotion system, as well as serving to protect vital parts. The internal skeleton consists of the skull bones (except for the roofing bones of the head, which are really part of the external skeleton), the vertebral column, and the fin supports (fin rays). The fin supports are derived from the external skeleton but will be treated here because of their close functional relationship to the internal skeleton. The internal skeleton of cyclostomes, sharks, and rays is of cartilage; that of many fossil groups and some primitive living fishes is mostly of cartilage but may include some bone. In place of the vertebral column, the earliest vertebrates had a fully developed notochord, a flexible stiff rod of viscous cells surrounded by a strong fibrous sheath. During the evolution of modern fishes the rod was replaced in part by cartilage and then by ossified cartilage. Sharks and rays retain a cartilaginous vertebral column; bony fishes have spool-shaped vertebrae that in the more primitive living forms only partially replace the notochord. The skull, including the gill arches and jaws of bony fishes, is fully, or at least partially, ossified. That of sharks and rays remains cartilaginous, at times partially replaced by calcium deposits but never by true bone.
The supportive elements of the fins (basal or radial bones or both) have changed greatly during fish evolution. Some of these changes are described in the section below (Evolution and paleontology). Most fishes possess a single dorsal fin on the midline of the back. Many have two and a few have three dorsal fins. The other fins are the single tail and anal fins and paired pelvic and pectoral fins. A small fin, the adipose fin, with hairlike fin rays, occurs in many of the relatively primitive teleosts (such as trout) on the back near the base of the caudal fin.
The skin of a fish must serve many functions. It aids in maintaining the osmotic balance, provides physical protection for the body, is the site of coloration, contains sensory receptors, and, in some fishes, functions in respiration. Mucous glands, which aid in maintaining the water balance and offer protection from bacteria, are extremely numerous in fish skin, especially in cyclostomes and teleosts. Since mucous glands are present in the modern lampreys, it is reasonable to assume that they were present in primitive fishes, such as the ancient Silurian and Devonian agnathans. Protection from abrasion and predation is another function of the fish skin, and dermal (skin) bone arose early in fish evolution in response to this need. It is thought that bone first evolved in skin and only later invaded the cartilaginous areas of the fish’s body, to provide additional support and protection. There is some argument as to which came first, cartilage or bone, and fossil evidence does not settle the question. In any event, dermal bone has played an important part in fish evolution and has different characteristics in different groups of fishes. Several groups are characterized at least in part by the kind of bony scales they possess.
Scales have played an important part in the evolution of fishes. Primitive fishes usually had thick bony plates or thick scales in several layers of bone, enamel, and related substances. Modern teleost fishes have scales of bone, which, while still protective, allow much more freedom of motion in the body. A few modern teleosts (some catfishes, sticklebacks, and others) have secondarily acquired bony plates in the skin. Modern and early sharks possessed placoid scales, a relatively primitive type of scale with a toothlike structure, consisting of an outside layer of enamel-like substance (vitrodentine), an inner layer of dentine, and a pulp cavity containing nerves and blood vessels. Primitive bony fishes had thick scales of either the ganoid or the cosmoid type. Cosmoid scales have a hard, enamel-like outer layer, an inner layer of cosmine (a form of dentine), and then a layer of vascular bone (isopedine). In ganoid scales the hard outer layer is different chemically and is called ganoin. Under this is a cosminelike layer and then a vascular bony layer. The thin, translucent bony scales of modern fishes, called cycloid and ctenoid (the latter distinguished by serrations at the edges), lack enameloid and dentine layers.
Skin has several other functions in fishes. It is well supplied with nerve endings and presumably receives tactile, thermal, and pain stimuli. Skin is also well supplied with blood vessels. Some fishes breathe in part through the skin, by the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the surrounding water and numerous small blood vessels near the skin surface.
Skin serves as protection through the control of coloration. Fishes exhibit an almost limitless range of colours. The colours often blend closely with the surroundings, effectively hiding the animal. Many fishes use bright colours for territorial advertisement or as recognition marks for other members of their own species, or sometimes for members of other species. Many fishes can change their colour to a greater or lesser degree, by movement of pigment within the pigment cells (chromatophores). Black pigment cells (melanophores), of almost universal occurrence in fishes, are often juxtaposed with other pigment cells. When placed beneath iridocytes or leucophores (bearing the silvery or white pigment guanine), melanophores produce structural colours of blue and green. These colours are often extremely intense, because they are formed by refraction of light through the needlelike crystals of guanine. The blue and green refracted colours are often relatively pure, lacking the red and yellow rays, which have been absorbed by the black pigment (melanin) of the melanophores. Yellow, orange, and red colours are produced by erythrophores, cells containing the appropriate carotenoid pigments. Other colours are produced by combinations of melanophores, erythrophores, and iridocytes.
The major portion of the body of most fishes consists of muscles. Most of the mass is trunk musculature, the fin muscles usually being relatively small. The caudal fin is usually the most powerful fin, being moved by the trunk musculature. The body musculature is usually arranged in rows of chevron-shaped segments on each side. Contractions of these segments, each attached to adjacent vertebrae and vertebral processes, bends the body on the vertebral joint, producing successive undulations of the body, passing from the head to the tail, and producing driving strokes of the tail. It is the latter that provides the strong forward movement for most fishes.
The digestive system, in a functional sense, starts at the mouth, with the teeth used to capture prey or collect plant foods. Mouth shape and tooth structure vary greatly in fishes, depending on the kind of food normally eaten. Most fishes are predacious, feeding on small invertebrates or other fishes and have simple conical teeth on the jaws, on at least some of the bones of the roof of the mouth, and on special gill arch structures just in front of the esophagus. The latter are throat teeth. Most predacious fishes swallow their prey whole, and the teeth are used for grasping and holding prey, for orienting prey to be swallowed (head first) and for working the prey toward the esophagus. There are a variety of tooth types in fishes. Some fishes, such as sharks and piranhas, have cutting teeth for biting chunks out of their victims. A shark’s tooth, although superficially like that of a piranha, appears in many respects to be a modified scale, while that of the piranha is like that of other bony fishes, consisting of dentine and enamel. Parrot fishes have beaklike mouths with short incisor-like teeth for breaking off coral and have heavy pavementlike throat teeth for crushing the coral. Some catfishes have small brushlike teeth, arranged in rows on the jaws, for scraping plant and animal growth from rocks. Many fishes (such as the Cyprinidae or minnows) have no jaw teeth at all but have very strong throat teeth.
Some fishes gather planktonic food by straining it from their gill cavities with numerous elongate stiff rods (gill rakers) anchored by one end to the gill bars. The food collected on these rods is passed to the throat, where it is swallowed. Most fishes have only short gill rakers that help keep food particles from escaping out the mouth cavity into the gill chamber.
Once reaching the throat, food enters a short, often greatly distensible esophagus, a simple tube with a muscular wall leading into a stomach. The stomach varies greatly in fishes, depending upon the diet. In most predacious fishes it is a simple straight or curved tube or pouch with a muscular wall and a glandular lining. Food is largely digested there and leaves the stomach in liquid form.
Between the stomach and the intestine, ducts enter the digestive tube from the liver and pancreas. The liver is a large, clearly defined organ. The pancreas may be embedded in it, diffused through it, or broken into small parts spread along some of the intestine. The junction between the stomach and the intestine is marked by a muscular valve. Pyloric ceca (blind sacs) occur in some fishes at this junction and have a digestive or absorptive function or both.
The intestine itself is quite variable in length, depending upon the fish’s diet. It is short in predacious forms, sometimes no longer than the body cavity, but long in herbivorous forms, being coiled and several times longer than the entire length of the fish in some species of South American catfishes. The intestine is primarily an organ for absorbing nutrients into the bloodstream. The larger its internal surface, the greater its absorptive efficiency, and a spiral valve is one method of increasing its absorption surface.
Sharks, rays, chimaeras, lungfishes, surviving chondrosteans, holosteans, and even a few of the more primitive teleosts have a spiral valve or at least traces of it in the intestine. Most modern teleosts have increased the area of the intestinal walls by having numerous folds and villi (fingerlike projections) somewhat like those in humans. Undigested substances are passed to the exterior through the anus in most teleost fishes. In lungfishes, sharks, and rays, it is first passed through the cloaca, a common cavity receiving the intestinal opening and the ducts from the urogenital system.
Oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolve in water, and most fishes exchange dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide in water by means of the gills. The gills lie behind and to the side of the mouth cavity and consist of fleshy filaments supported by the gill arches and filled with blood vessels, which give gills a bright red colour. Water taken in continuously through the mouth passes backward between the gill bars and over the gill filaments, where the exchange of gases takes place. The gills are protected by a gill cover in teleosts and many other fishes but by flaps of skin in sharks, rays, and some of the older fossil fish groups. The blood capillaries in the gill filaments are close to the gill surface to take up oxygen from the water and to give up excess carbon dioxide to the water.
Most modern fishes have a hydrostatic (ballast) organ, called the swim bladder, that lies in the body cavity just below the kidney and above the stomach and intestine. It originated as a diverticulum of the digestive canal. In advanced teleosts, especially the acanthopterygians, the bladder has lost its connection with the digestive tract, a condition called physoclistic. The connection has been retained (physostomous) by many relatively primitive teleosts. In several unrelated lines of fishes, the bladder has become specialized as a lung or, at least, as a highly vascularized accessory breathing organ. Some fishes with such accessory organs are obligate air breathers and will drown if denied access to the surface, even in well-oxygenated water. Fishes with a hydrostatic form of swim bladder can control their depth by regulating the amount of gas in the bladder. The gas, mostly oxygen, is secreted into the bladder by special glands, rendering the fish more buoyant; the gas is absorbed into the bloodstream by another special organ, reducing the overall buoyancy and allowing the fish to sink. Some deep-sea fishes may have oils, rather than gas, in the bladder. Other deep-sea and some bottom-living forms have much-reduced swim bladders or have lost the organ entirely.
The swim bladder of fishes follows the same developmental pattern as the lungs of land vertebrates. There is no doubt that the two structures have the same historical origin in primitive fishes. More or less intermediate forms still survive among the more primitive types of fishes, such as the lungfishes Lepidosiren and Protopterus.
The circulatory, or blood vascular, system consists of the heart, the arteries, the capillaries, and the veins. It is in the capillaries that the interchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and other substances such as hormones and waste products takes place. The capillaries lead to the veins, which return the venous blood with its waste products to the heart, kidneys, and gills. There are two kinds of capillary beds: those in the gills and those in the rest of the body. The heart, a folded continuous muscular tube with three or four saclike enlargements, undergoes rhythmic contractions and receives venous blood in a sinus venosus. It passes the blood to an auricle and then into a thick muscular pump, the ventricle. From the ventricle the blood goes to a bulbous structure at the base of a ventral aorta just below the gills. The blood passes to the afferent (receiving) arteries of the gill arches and then to the gill capillaries. There waste gases are given off to the environment, and oxygen is absorbed. The oxygenated blood enters efferent (exuant) arteries of the gill arches and then flows into the dorsal aorta. From there blood is distributed to the tissues and organs of the body. One-way valves prevent backflow. The circulation of fishes thus differs from that of the reptiles, birds, and mammals in that oxygenated blood is not returned to the heart prior to distribution to the other parts of the body.
The primary excretory organ in fishes, as in other vertebrates, is the kidney. In fishes some excretion also takes place in the digestive tract, skin, and especially the gills (where ammonia is given off). Compared with land vertebrates, fishes have a special problem in maintaining their internal environment at a constant concentration of water and dissolved substances, such as salts. Proper balance of the internal environment (homeostasis) of a fish is in a great part maintained by the excretory system, especially the kidney.
The kidney, gills, and skin play an important role in maintaining a fish’s internal environment and checking the effects of osmosis. Marine fishes live in an environment in which the water around them has a greater concentration of salts than they can have inside their body and still maintain life. Freshwater fishes, on the other hand, live in water with a much lower concentration of salts than they require inside their bodies. Osmosis tends to promote the loss of water from the body of a marine fish and absorption of water by that of a freshwater fish. Mucus in the skin tends to slow the process but is not a sufficient barrier to prevent the movement of fluids through the permeable skin. When solutions on two sides of a permeable membrane have different concentrations of dissolved substances, water will pass through the membrane into the more concentrated solution, while the dissolved chemicals move into the area of lower concentration (diffusion).
The kidney of freshwater fishes is often larger in relation to body weight than that of marine fishes. In both groups the kidney excretes wastes from the body, but the kidney of freshwater fishes also excretes large amounts of water, counteracting the water absorbed through the skin. Freshwater fishes tend to lose salt to the environment and must replace it. They get some salt from their food, but the gills and skin inside the mouth actively absorb salt from water passed through the mouth. This absorption is performed by special cells capable of moving salts against the diffusion gradient. Freshwater fishes drink very little water and take in little water with their food.
Marine fishes must conserve water, and therefore their kidneys excrete little water. To maintain their water balance, marine fishes drink large quantities of seawater, retaining most of the water and excreting the salt. Most nitrogenous waste in marine fishes appears to be secreted by the gills as ammonia. Marine fishes can excrete salt by clusters of special cells (chloride cells) in the gills.
There are several teleosts—for example, the salmon—that travel between fresh water and seawater and must adjust to the reversal of osmotic gradients. They adjust their physiological processes by spending time (often surprisingly little time) in the intermediate brackish environment.
Marine hagfishes, sharks, and rays have osmotic concentrations in their blood about equal to that of seawater and so do not have to drink water nor perform much physiological work to maintain their osmotic balance. In sharks and rays the osmotic concentration is kept high by retention of urea in the blood. Freshwater sharks have a lowered concentration of urea in the blood.
Endocrine glands secrete their products into the bloodstream and body tissues and, along with the central nervous system, control and regulate many kinds of body functions. Cyclostomes have a well-developed endocrine system, and presumably it was well developed in the early Agnatha, ancestral to modern fishes. Although the endocrine system in fishes is similar to that of higher vertebrates, there are numerous differences in detail. The pituitary, the thyroid, the suprarenals, the adrenals, the pancreatic islets, the sex glands (ovaries and testes), the inner wall of the intestine, and the bodies of the ultimobranchial gland make up the endocrine system in fishes. There are some others whose function is not well understood. These organs regulate sexual activity and reproduction, growth, osmotic pressure, general metabolic activities such as the storage of fat and the utilization of foodstuffs, blood pressure, and certain aspects of skin colour. Many of these activities are also controlled in part by the central nervous system, which works with the endocrine system in maintaining the life of a fish. Some parts of the endocrine system are developmentally, and undoubtedly evolutionarily, derived from the nervous system.
As in all vertebrates, the nervous system of fishes is the primary mechanism coordinating body activities, as well as integrating these activities in the appropriate manner with stimuli from the environment. The central nervous system, consisting of the brain and spinal cord, is the primary integrating mechanism. The peripheral nervous system, consisting of nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord to various body organs, carries sensory information from special receptor organs such as the eyes, internal ears, nares (sense of smell), taste glands, and others to the integrating centres of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system also carries information via different nerve cells from the integrating centres of the brain and spinal cord. This coded information is carried to the various organs and body systems, such as the skeletal muscular system, for appropriate action in response to the original external or internal stimulus. Another branch of the nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, helps to coordinate the activities of many glands and organs and is itself closely connected to the integrating centres of the brain.
The brain of the fish is divided into several anatomical and functional parts, all closely interconnected but each serving as the primary centre of integrating particular kinds of responses and activities. Several of these centres or parts are primarily associated with one type of sensory perception, such as sight, hearing, or smell (olfaction).
The sense of smell is important in almost all fishes. Certain eels with tiny eyes depend mostly on smell for location of food. The olfactory, or nasal, organ of fishes is located on the dorsal surface of the snout. The lining of the nasal organ has special sensory cells that perceive chemicals dissolved in the water, such as substances from food material, and send sensory information to the brain by way of the first cranial nerve. Odour also serves as an alarm system. Many fishes, especially various species of freshwater minnows, react with alarm to a chemical released from the skin of an injured member of their own species.
Many fishes have a well-developed sense of taste, and tiny pitlike taste buds or organs are located not only within their mouth cavities but also over their heads and parts of their body. Catfishes, which often have poor vision, have barbels (“whiskers”) that serve as supplementary taste organs, those around the mouth being actively used to search out food on the bottom. Some species of naturally blind cave fishes are especially well supplied with taste buds, which often cover most of their body surface.
Sight is extremely important in most fishes. The eye of a fish is basically like that of all other vertebrates, but the eyes of fishes are extremely varied in structure and adaptation. In general, fishes living in dark and dim water habitats have large eyes, unless they have specialized in some compensatory way so that another sense (such as smell) is dominant, in which case the eyes will often be reduced. Fishes living in brightly lighted shallow waters often will have relatively small but efficient eyes. Cyclostomes have somewhat less elaborate eyes than other fishes, with skin stretched over the eyeball perhaps making their vision somewhat less effective. Most fishes have a spherical lens and accommodate their vision to far or near subjects by moving the lens within the eyeball. A few sharks accommodate by changing the shape of the lens, as in land vertebrates. Those fishes that are heavily dependent upon the eyes have especially strong muscles for accommodation. Most fishes see well, despite the restrictions imposed by frequent turbidity of the water and by light refraction.
Fossil evidence suggests that colour vision evolved in fishes more than 300 million years ago, but not all living fishes have retained this ability. Experimental evidence indicates that many shallow-water fishes, if not all, have colour vision and see some colours especially well, but some bottom-dwelling shore fishes live in areas where the water is sufficiently deep to filter out most if not all colours, and these fishes apparently never see colours. When tested in shallow water, they apparently are unable to respond to colour differences.
Sound perception and balance are intimately associated senses in a fish. The organs of hearing are entirely internal, located within the skull, on each side of the brain and somewhat behind the eyes. Sound waves, especially those of low frequencies, travel readily through water and impinge directly upon the bones and fluids of the head and body, to be transmitted to the hearing organs. Fishes readily respond to sound; for example, a trout conditioned to escape by the approach of fishermen will take flight upon perceiving footsteps on a stream bank even if it cannot see a fisherman. Compared with humans, however, the range of sound frequencies heard by fishes is greatly restricted. Many fishes communicate with each other by producing sounds in their swim bladders, in their throats by rasping their teeth, and in other ways.
A fish or other vertebrate seldom has to rely on a single type of sensory information to determine the nature of the environment around it. A catfish uses taste and touch when examining a food object with its oral barbels. Like most other animals, fishes have many touch receptors over their body surface. Pain and temperature receptors also are present in fishes and presumably produce the same kind of information to a fish as to humans. Fishes react in a negative fashion to stimuli that would be painful to human beings, suggesting that they feel a sensation of pain.
An important sensory system in fishes that is absent in other vertebrates (except some amphibians) is the lateral line system. This consists of a series of heavily innervated small canals located in the skin and bone around the eyes, along the lower jaw, over the head, and down the mid-side of the body, where it is associated with the scales. Intermittently along these canals are located tiny sensory organs (pit organs) that apparently detect changes in pressure. The system allows a fish to sense changes in water currents and pressure, thereby helping the fish to orient itself to the various changes that occur in the physical environment.
Environmental Sciences Europe 2014
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: www.enveurope.com/content/26/1/14
Received:22 March 2014
Accepted:16 May 2014
Published 24 June 2014
© 2014 Séralini et al.; licensee Springer
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background
The health effects of a Roundup-tolerant NK603 genetically modified (GM) maize (from 11% in the diet), cultivated with or without Roundup application and Roundup alone (from 0.1 ppb of the full pesticide containing glyphosate and adjuvants) in drinking water, were evaluated for 2 years in rats. This study constitutes a follow-up investigation of a 90-day feeding study conducted by Monsanto in order to obtain commercial release of this GMO, employing the same rat strain and analyzing biochemical parameters on the same number of animals per group as our investigation. Our research represents the first chronic study on these substances, in which all observations including tumors are reported chronologically. Thus, it was not designed as a carcinogenicity study. We report the major findings with 34 organs observed and 56 parameters analyzed at 11 time points for most organs.
Results
Biochemical analyses confirmed very significant chronic kidney deficiencies, for all treatments and both sexes; 76% of the altered parameters were kidney-related. In treated males, liver congestions and necrosis were 2.5 to 5.5 times higher. Marked and severe nephropathies were also generally 1.3 to 2.3 times greater. In females, all treatment groups showed a two- to threefold increase in mortality, and deaths were earlier. This difference was also evident in three male groups fed with GM maize. All results were hormone- and sex-dependent, and the pathological profiles were comparable. Females developed large mammary tumors more frequently and before controls; the pituitary was the second most disabled organ; the sex hormonal balance was modified by consumption of GM maize and Roundup treatments. Males presented up to four times more large palpable tumors starting 600 days earlier than in the control group, in which only one tumor was noted. These results may be explained by not only the non-linear endocrine-disrupting effects of Roundup but also by the overexpression of the EPSPS transgene or other mutational effects in the GM maize and their metabolic consequences.
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter .
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Co art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter nservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park.
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
Go to the Book with image in the Internet Archive
Title: United States Naval Medical Bulletin Vol. 15, Nos. 1-4, 1921
Creator: U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Publisher:
Sponsor:
Contributor:
Date: 1921
Language: eng
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Table of Contents</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PORTRAIT OF SURGEON GENERAL E. R. STITT, U. S. NAVY —Frontispiece</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">THE NAVAL HOSPITAL, MARE ISLAND, CALIF. :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operating room technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, and Bessie C.
Graham, Nurse Corps, U. S. N 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The urological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. B. Hepler, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The roentgenological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 30</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The laboratory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps. U. S. N 34</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Features of organization.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. C. White, Medical Corps, U. S. N 40</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General file and record system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. C. Allen, Medical Corps, U. S. N 4T</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested clinical chart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. C. Baker, Medical Corps, U. S. N 49</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The theater.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Chief Pharmacist T. C. Hart, Medical Corps, U. S. N 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Study of one hundred navy desertions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A H. Ehrenclou. Medical Corps, U. S. N., and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Lieutenant W. H. Wilson, Chaplain Corps, U. S. N. R. F 53</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical failures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. N 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Circumcision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 77</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A glue cast for fractures of long bones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N . 79</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculin in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 81</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diphtheria at Mare Island, Calif., in 1920.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Agglutination of human erythrocytes by sera.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and Pharmacist's
Mate E. C. Upp, U. S. N 8G</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A method of ringing the hanging drop, etc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Hospital Apprentice First Class D. G. Willard, U. S. N 92</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preparation of colloidal gold solution.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Marie Karlen. Reserve Nurse Corps, and Pharmacist's Mate First Class
A. E. Bourke, U. S. N 94</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of seventy-five refraction cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 95</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Empyema cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant E. R. Guinan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 99</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute mastoiditis. Page.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 106</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental foci in the etiology of systemic disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, and Lieutenant</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 109</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Transfusion in medical cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. H. Murray, Medical Corps, TJ. S. N 117</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DENTAL BRANCH OF THE HOSPITAL COBPS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 118</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS PEBICABDITI8.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 120</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ACUTE ANILINE POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 123</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Sale, Medical Corps, U. S. N 126</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF NEUROPARALYTIC KERATITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vernal conjunctivitis treated with radium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1 128</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of acute myelitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. E. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 130</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of osteoma of the tibia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 131</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DISLOCATED SEMILUNAR CARTHAGE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF COMPOUND FRACTURE OF TIBIA AND FIBULA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DEATH FROM NITRIC ACID POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U.S. N 133</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NECROSIS OF THE MANDIBLE ; TWO CASES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 134</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Alexis Soyer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 139</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Morale 175</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal statistics of the Army and Navy: A study of certain published
reports.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain C. E. RIggs. Medical Corps, U. S. N 179</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of one hundred compound fractures due to shell fragments or
machine-gun bullets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. L. Clifton, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 191</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Death From Novarsenobenzol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander R. A. Torrance, Medical Corps, U. S. N 193</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mercurochrome —220, in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. L. Darnall, Dental Corps, U. S. N_ 194</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
—The clinical recognition of syphilis. —Mercury bichloride Intravenously. —
Transduodenal lavage. — Immunization against diphtheria. —Buccal auscultation
197</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. — Malingering. —Extending the field of
conscious control. —The patient himself. —Anxiety and fear 210</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Blood transfusion. —Dangers of transfusion. —Mixture of ethyl
chloride, chloroform, and ether for anesthesia. — Skin grafting.—Autoplasties
for baldness. —Bladder tumors 217</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Hospital tires.—Coffee and vitamines 223
Tropical medicine. —Sterilization of ova in bilharziasis.—Antimony in the
treatment of bilharziasis 226</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Cause and diagnosis of glaucoma ; treatment
by myotics.— Corneal disease of tubercular origin. —Action of chloral on the
pupil 227</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Enlistments. —Professional training of experienced officers.—The case of
the U. S. S. Pittsburgh. —Prostatic lithiasis.—Cessation of respiration 15
hours before death. —Chloropierin to exterminate rats. —The Annual Report of
the Surgeon General, U. S. Navy. —Finding malarial parasites.— Icterus in
malaria.—Excretion of quinine.— Student health at the University of
Iowa.—Conference on war victims. —Pleasure and profit in the Medical Corps of
the Navy. —Law regarding thermometers. —Adhesive plaster. —The essential in
nursing. —Laxative cookies.—Samoa. —The Navy Mutual Aid Association 236</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 251</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE<span> </span>VII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VIII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of influenza.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander J. L. Neilson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 269</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Intravenous use of magnesium sulphate in influenzal pneumonia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Hogan, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F.<span> </span>277</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental injuries from electric currents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. J. Zalesky and Lieutenant W. T. Brown, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 279</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of sterilization in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N. 282</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Peptic ulcer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 285</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURVEY OF FIFTY COURT-MARTIAL PRISONERS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Castle, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F<span> </span>291</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hospital training of apprentices.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 296</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of instructing hospital corpsmen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr. Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>302</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Standardizing treatment for venereal disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. D. Owens, Medical Corps, U. S. N 308</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Plan of organization for a naval hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain R. P. Crandall and Commander W. A. Angwin, Medical Corps, U.
S. N 316</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>347</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Calling a spade an implement of horticultural utility 377</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">"To bide the hobbyhorse with the boys " 378</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SIGGESTED DEVICES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">RETINOSCOPIC LENS HOLDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 383</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Strong room for alcohol and narcotics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 385</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Detection of mosquito larvae.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 380</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculous meningitis simulating lethargic encephalitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 387</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Advancement of ocular muscles by the Fox technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U.S. N<span> </span><span> </span>392</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical treatment of "saddle nose" deformity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U. S. N 397</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A HAND PLASTIC.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 399</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dislocation of first cervical vertebra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain G. T. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 400</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Death from neo-arsphenamine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. .T. Za leaky and Lieutenant J. B. Bellinger, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 401</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Thrombosis of the lateral sinus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander E. E. Koebbe, Medical Corps, U. S. N_ 403</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Orchitis complicating tonsillitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenants J. D. Benjamin and T. C. Quirk, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span>408</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operations for trauma of the urethra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. L. Cowles, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. P 407</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sea sickness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander C. E. Henry. Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 410</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of the " West Indian chancroid."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. H. Michael, Medical Corps, U. S. N 412</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —The arsphenaniines in therapeutics. —Recital absorption
of glucose 415</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. —lethargic encephalitis. —Theory of hysteria.
—Mental deficiency 420</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Resuscitation in death under anesthesia. —Advances in anesthesia.
— Sloughing in local anesthesia. —Anesthesia in abdominal surgery. —
Suppurating wounds after abdominal section. —Saving suppurating Incisions.
—Abdominal adhesions. —Perforating gastric and duodenal ulcer. — Persistence of
pyloric and duodenal ulcers. — Diverticula of the duodenum.— Orthopedic
treatment of burns. —Postoperative bronchial irritation. —Care of surgical patients.
—End-to-end anastomosis. —Genital tuberculosis.— Radium therapy of cancer of
bladder. — Radium and malignant genitourinary disease.—Bone tumors. —Fracture
of vertebrae. —Penetrating wounds of chest. —Operation for empyema.—Plastic war
surgery in civil life. —The war's contribution to civil surgery 429</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Typhus fever in Serbia 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bactkriology, and animal parasitology. —Diagnosis of cholera.
—Staining malarial parasites. —Saprophytysm of venereal organisms. — Variation
in size of red cells. —Anophellnes of California. —Reaction from echinococcus fluid
457</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.— Encephalitis lethargica<span> </span>487</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS: <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Bronchospirochaetosis. — Starvation edema. —Dried cabbage as an antiscorbutic.
—Miner's nystagmus. —Endocrines and the teeth. — Orientation of bats. — Sugar
production.- -The teeth of the ancient Egyptians. —Treatment of enlarged
thymus. —Plague in Paris.— Antivenereal campaign in Rouen.— Medical school of
the University of Virginia. —Postgraduate study In the Japanese Navy. — National
Academy of Science.—Peking Unjon Medical College. — The dye Industry. — Naval
medical service as a career. —Naval dispensary and hospital defined.— Death of
Anton Weichselbaum. — Action of the Women's Civic League, Maiden, Mass. — Dr.
Russel H. Boggs. — Preservation of leather. —Service publications. —Picric acid
<span> </span>469</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sewage system in Charlotte Amalia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. L. Pettigrew, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. N. and
Lieutenant E. Peterson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 481</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Application of the Schick reaction to 2,011 naval recruits.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood. Medical Corps, U. S. N 486</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. C. Melborn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sanitary report on Libau, Latvia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. C. Smith and Lieutenant R. P. Parsons,
Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Summer school, Hampton Roads, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. E. Lowman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 495</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INFORMATION WANTED 498</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 499</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES : Surgical service of the United States Naval Hospital,
New Orleans, La.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. J. Riddick and Lieutenant Commander E. A.
Stephens, Medical Corps, U. S.N.<span> </span><span> </span>507</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERIA IN THE NAVAL SERVICE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N.<span> </span>515</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERICAL CONTRACTURE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 521</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">X-RAY PROCEDURE AND TECHNIQUE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander I. E. Jacobs, Medical Corps, and Chief
Pharmacist's Mate C. B. Worster, U. S. N 524</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Interpretation of abdominal rigidity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>529</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ECHINOCOCCUS CYST.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 530</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NONCORRODIBLE INSTRUMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. C. Thomas, Medical Corps, U. S. N 532</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Aseptic technique for canal instruments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N 533</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumata due to falling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>535</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Administration of neosalvarsan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. B. Bostick, Medical Corps, U. S. N 536</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diet deficiency in Vincent's angina.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Morris, Dental Corps, U. S. N 540</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vincent's infection of the -mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant (j. g.) J. B. Goodall, Dental Corps, U. S. N. R. F <span> </span>542</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Penetrating wound of the pelvis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. P. Gardner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 544</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumatic rupture of spleen —removal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander F. H. Bowman, Medical Corps, U.S. N., and
Lieutenant Commander E. M. Foote, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 545</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operation for wrist drop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. I. Yohannan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 547</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A PLASTIC OPERATION ON THE MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. W. Auerbach, Medical Corps, U. S. N 54S</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A SIMPLE OPERATION FOR TRICHIASIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. S. Cragin, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 551</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ADENO-CARCINOMA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. Boland, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 552</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chancroidal infections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. F. Pearce, Medical Corps, U. S. N 554</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CA8E OF INNOCENT SYPHILIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. W. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 556</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CARCINOMA OF THE TESTICLE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. J. Corcoran, Medical Corps, U. S. N 557</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Removal of an unusually large tumor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. L. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 558</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A RETROSPECT OF NAVAL AND MILITARY MEDICINE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental poisoning — Contributing to the Bulletin —The omission of
the—The future of nursing — Comparative values 627</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine — Mechanism of hiccough — Gases In arterial blood—Treatment
of arsenic poisoning —Treatment of encephalitis letharglca —New test for
nephritis—Blood in pellagra and beri beri —Ocular symptoms in sinus
disease—Reaction from repeated transfusions —Eye symptoms in epidemic
encephalitis —Diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhoids —Cost of venereal
disease—Future of medicine in the United States 637</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases —The criminal—Brain lesions of dementia
praecox —Follow-up studies on mental patients 652</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery—Trauma of the abdomen— Rubber dam tampon —Diagnosis of gastric
or duodenal ulcers —Postoperative thrombophlebitis — Treatment of fractured
patella —Affections of the tibial tubercle— 655</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and Sanitation —Sanitary features of merchant ships 659</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Errata —Centenary of von Helmholtz —Retirement of Filippo Rho, Surgeon
General, Italian Navy—A diagnostic point in tuberculosis —Curing hemorrhoids
—The X-ray and art— Industrial code of<span> </span>New
York —Preservation of eyesight —Basal metabolism —American Society of Tropical
Medicine —Laboratory work in the Far East— Dentistry in South America
—Fireprooflng of fabrics—The exploration of Mount Everest — Physical
development in Japan — Hiccough and encephalitis lethargica —Use of fish as
food in France — Service items 665</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rat-Proofing at the United States Navy Yard, Key West, Fla.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander P. E. Garrison, Medical Corps, U. S. N 673</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of the Fifth Congress of the International Society of Surgery,
Paris.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant S. B. Burk, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F. (Inactive) 681</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Port Au Prince, Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. J. Brown, Medical Corps, U. S. N 695</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical Department of the United States Naval Torpedo Station,
Alexandria, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. C. Kress, Medical Corps, U. S. N 701</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Herman-Perutz Reaction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. V. Genzmer, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 708</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 711</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE V</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Color blindness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain E. J. Grow, Medical Corps, U. S. N 717</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cardiac irregularity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. U. Reed, Medical Corps, U. S. N 732</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Handling of recruits, Marine Barracks, Parris Island.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 740</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Four centuries in the treatment of syphilis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Shaffer, Medical Corps, U. S. N 749</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Marine Corps field hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Cottle, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>762</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Training and care of the football squad, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Md.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant M. H. Roberts, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 770</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Gas poisoning in warfare.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. H. Mankin, Medical Corps, U. S. N 775</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal prophylaxis among U. S. Marines at Honolulu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N_. 783</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Manila Galleon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr, Medical Corps, U. S. N. 787</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">On learning to write-—On several phases of syphilis 801</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SUGGESTED DEVICES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental X-ray film holder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps. U. S. N_- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggestion for recording dental conditions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N-- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CUTANEOUS SPOROTRICHOSIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander R. E. Hoyt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 809</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of pellagra in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Clark, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 813</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute rheumatic fever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. M. Alberty, Medical Corps, U. S. N 814</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of poisoning by oil of chenopodium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood, Medical Corps, U. S. N 818</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brushing the teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>824</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">TWENTY-EIGHT CASES OF PNEUMONIA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. R. Jeffrey, Medical Corps, U. S. N 825</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander S. P. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 830</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cholecystectomy <span> </span>and pyelotomy in
Guam.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander A. H. Robnett, Medical Corps, U. S. N 831</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Elephantiasis of the scrotum.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Breene, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and W. Zur Linden,
chief pharmacist, Medical Corps, U. S. N 884</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rules for massage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. S. Bainbridge, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F— 835</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Transfusion of blood—Diabetes mellitus In the Negro
race— Diagnosis of syphilis In malarial subjects —So-called diseases of the
blood— Singultus— The role of the prostate and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">seminal vesicles in arthritis —Medical aspects of naval aviation — Treating
syphilitics—The etiology of scurvy —Food accessory factors in relation to the
teeth 839</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Immediate surgery in fighting ships —Immediate surgery of war
wounds as practiced in hospital ships —The surgical treatment of empyema by a
closed method—Willems treatment of</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">knee-joint injuries —Observations on primary venereal sores—Resection
of the small intestine for war wounds —Tetanus in the British Army during the
European War 855</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —New method of treatment of trypanosomiasis — Differential
diagnosis in tropical fevers —Schistosomiasis in the Yangtse Valley—Carriers of
dysenteriae among soldiers —Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 870</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. — Cultivation of gonococcus—Aestivo-autumnal
malaria Plasmodia —Virulence of diphtheria-like organisms 885</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy.—Absorption of calcium salts in man— Improvements
in the Nephelometer-Colorimeter — Substitution of turbidimetry for nephelometry
in certain biochemical methods of analysis— Creatinuria —Phosphoric acid in the
blood of normal infants—Basal metabolism of normal women—Fat-soluble vitamine— Standards
for normal basal metabolism 887</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.- —Injuries to the ear in modern warfare— Injuries
to the ear in modern warfare— Symptomatology and diagnosis of foreign bodies in
the air and food passages—Etiology and prevention of injuries to the eye
—Mosher-Totl operation on the lachrymal sac —-Tuberculosis of the middle ear
892</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Colles's Fracture—The French view of an American medical congress —Case
Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital— National cancer week- —
Pharmacopoeia of China —Municipal disposal of garbage—American Journal of
Tropical Medicine —Danger of week-end camping in the Tropics — Influenza
epidemic in the British Navy —Benvenuto Cellini—A Consulting Surgeon in the
Near</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">East—Asphyxiation in Garages —Dental service In the British Navy
—Surgeon Captain Lomas, R. N.—Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William
Osler —John Keats, apothecary and poet — Life and times of Ambroise
Pare—Treatment of ozena —Lead poisoning in the pottery trade—The International
Journal of Gastro-Enterology— Treatment of malarial fever —Formaldehyde
poisoning — Toxic effects of shaking arsphenamine solution —Peking Union Medical
College —Milk standards 901</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 921</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INDEX 983</p>
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Title: United States Naval Medical Bulletin Vol. 15, Nos. 1-4, 1921
Creator: U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Publisher:
Sponsor:
Contributor:
Date: 1921
Language: eng
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Table of Contents</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PORTRAIT OF SURGEON GENERAL E. R. STITT, U. S. NAVY —Frontispiece</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">THE NAVAL HOSPITAL, MARE ISLAND, CALIF. :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operating room technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, and Bessie C.
Graham, Nurse Corps, U. S. N 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The urological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. B. Hepler, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The roentgenological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 30</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The laboratory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps. U. S. N 34</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Features of organization.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. C. White, Medical Corps, U. S. N 40</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General file and record system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. C. Allen, Medical Corps, U. S. N 4T</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested clinical chart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. C. Baker, Medical Corps, U. S. N 49</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The theater.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Chief Pharmacist T. C. Hart, Medical Corps, U. S. N 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Study of one hundred navy desertions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A H. Ehrenclou. Medical Corps, U. S. N., and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Lieutenant W. H. Wilson, Chaplain Corps, U. S. N. R. F 53</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical failures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. N 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Circumcision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 77</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A glue cast for fractures of long bones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N . 79</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculin in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 81</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diphtheria at Mare Island, Calif., in 1920.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Agglutination of human erythrocytes by sera.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and Pharmacist's
Mate E. C. Upp, U. S. N 8G</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A method of ringing the hanging drop, etc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Hospital Apprentice First Class D. G. Willard, U. S. N 92</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preparation of colloidal gold solution.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Marie Karlen. Reserve Nurse Corps, and Pharmacist's Mate First Class
A. E. Bourke, U. S. N 94</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of seventy-five refraction cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 95</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Empyema cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant E. R. Guinan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 99</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute mastoiditis. Page.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 106</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental foci in the etiology of systemic disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, and Lieutenant</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 109</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Transfusion in medical cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. H. Murray, Medical Corps, TJ. S. N 117</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DENTAL BRANCH OF THE HOSPITAL COBPS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 118</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS PEBICABDITI8.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 120</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ACUTE ANILINE POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 123</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Sale, Medical Corps, U. S. N 126</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF NEUROPARALYTIC KERATITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vernal conjunctivitis treated with radium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1 128</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of acute myelitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. E. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 130</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of osteoma of the tibia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 131</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DISLOCATED SEMILUNAR CARTHAGE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF COMPOUND FRACTURE OF TIBIA AND FIBULA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DEATH FROM NITRIC ACID POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U.S. N 133</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NECROSIS OF THE MANDIBLE ; TWO CASES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 134</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Alexis Soyer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 139</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Morale 175</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal statistics of the Army and Navy: A study of certain published
reports.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain C. E. RIggs. Medical Corps, U. S. N 179</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of one hundred compound fractures due to shell fragments or
machine-gun bullets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. L. Clifton, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 191</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Death From Novarsenobenzol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander R. A. Torrance, Medical Corps, U. S. N 193</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mercurochrome —220, in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. L. Darnall, Dental Corps, U. S. N_ 194</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
—The clinical recognition of syphilis. —Mercury bichloride Intravenously. —
Transduodenal lavage. — Immunization against diphtheria. —Buccal auscultation
197</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. — Malingering. —Extending the field of
conscious control. —The patient himself. —Anxiety and fear 210</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Blood transfusion. —Dangers of transfusion. —Mixture of ethyl
chloride, chloroform, and ether for anesthesia. — Skin grafting.—Autoplasties
for baldness. —Bladder tumors 217</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Hospital tires.—Coffee and vitamines 223
Tropical medicine. —Sterilization of ova in bilharziasis.—Antimony in the
treatment of bilharziasis 226</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Cause and diagnosis of glaucoma ; treatment
by myotics.— Corneal disease of tubercular origin. —Action of chloral on the
pupil 227</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Enlistments. —Professional training of experienced officers.—The case of
the U. S. S. Pittsburgh. —Prostatic lithiasis.—Cessation of respiration 15
hours before death. —Chloropierin to exterminate rats. —The Annual Report of
the Surgeon General, U. S. Navy. —Finding malarial parasites.— Icterus in
malaria.—Excretion of quinine.— Student health at the University of
Iowa.—Conference on war victims. —Pleasure and profit in the Medical Corps of
the Navy. —Law regarding thermometers. —Adhesive plaster. —The essential in
nursing. —Laxative cookies.—Samoa. —The Navy Mutual Aid Association 236</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 251</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE<span> </span>VII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VIII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of influenza.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander J. L. Neilson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 269</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Intravenous use of magnesium sulphate in influenzal pneumonia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Hogan, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F.<span> </span>277</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental injuries from electric currents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. J. Zalesky and Lieutenant W. T. Brown, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 279</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of sterilization in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N. 282</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Peptic ulcer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 285</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURVEY OF FIFTY COURT-MARTIAL PRISONERS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Castle, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F<span> </span>291</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hospital training of apprentices.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 296</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of instructing hospital corpsmen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr. Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>302</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Standardizing treatment for venereal disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. D. Owens, Medical Corps, U. S. N 308</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Plan of organization for a naval hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain R. P. Crandall and Commander W. A. Angwin, Medical Corps, U.
S. N 316</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>347</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Calling a spade an implement of horticultural utility 377</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">"To bide the hobbyhorse with the boys " 378</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SIGGESTED DEVICES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">RETINOSCOPIC LENS HOLDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 383</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Strong room for alcohol and narcotics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 385</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Detection of mosquito larvae.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 380</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculous meningitis simulating lethargic encephalitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 387</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Advancement of ocular muscles by the Fox technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U.S. N<span> </span><span> </span>392</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical treatment of "saddle nose" deformity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U. S. N 397</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A HAND PLASTIC.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 399</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dislocation of first cervical vertebra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain G. T. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 400</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Death from neo-arsphenamine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. .T. Za leaky and Lieutenant J. B. Bellinger, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 401</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Thrombosis of the lateral sinus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander E. E. Koebbe, Medical Corps, U. S. N_ 403</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Orchitis complicating tonsillitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenants J. D. Benjamin and T. C. Quirk, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span>408</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operations for trauma of the urethra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. L. Cowles, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. P 407</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sea sickness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander C. E. Henry. Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 410</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of the " West Indian chancroid."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. H. Michael, Medical Corps, U. S. N 412</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —The arsphenaniines in therapeutics. —Recital absorption
of glucose 415</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. —lethargic encephalitis. —Theory of hysteria.
—Mental deficiency 420</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Resuscitation in death under anesthesia. —Advances in anesthesia.
— Sloughing in local anesthesia. —Anesthesia in abdominal surgery. —
Suppurating wounds after abdominal section. —Saving suppurating Incisions.
—Abdominal adhesions. —Perforating gastric and duodenal ulcer. — Persistence of
pyloric and duodenal ulcers. — Diverticula of the duodenum.— Orthopedic
treatment of burns. —Postoperative bronchial irritation. —Care of surgical patients.
—End-to-end anastomosis. —Genital tuberculosis.— Radium therapy of cancer of
bladder. — Radium and malignant genitourinary disease.—Bone tumors. —Fracture
of vertebrae. —Penetrating wounds of chest. —Operation for empyema.—Plastic war
surgery in civil life. —The war's contribution to civil surgery 429</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Typhus fever in Serbia 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bactkriology, and animal parasitology. —Diagnosis of cholera.
—Staining malarial parasites. —Saprophytysm of venereal organisms. — Variation
in size of red cells. —Anophellnes of California. —Reaction from echinococcus fluid
457</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.— Encephalitis lethargica<span> </span>487</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS: <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Bronchospirochaetosis. — Starvation edema. —Dried cabbage as an antiscorbutic.
—Miner's nystagmus. —Endocrines and the teeth. — Orientation of bats. — Sugar
production.- -The teeth of the ancient Egyptians. —Treatment of enlarged
thymus. —Plague in Paris.— Antivenereal campaign in Rouen.— Medical school of
the University of Virginia. —Postgraduate study In the Japanese Navy. — National
Academy of Science.—Peking Unjon Medical College. — The dye Industry. — Naval
medical service as a career. —Naval dispensary and hospital defined.— Death of
Anton Weichselbaum. — Action of the Women's Civic League, Maiden, Mass. — Dr.
Russel H. Boggs. — Preservation of leather. —Service publications. —Picric acid
<span> </span>469</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sewage system in Charlotte Amalia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. L. Pettigrew, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. N. and
Lieutenant E. Peterson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 481</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Application of the Schick reaction to 2,011 naval recruits.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood. Medical Corps, U. S. N 486</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. C. Melborn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sanitary report on Libau, Latvia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. C. Smith and Lieutenant R. P. Parsons,
Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Summer school, Hampton Roads, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. E. Lowman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 495</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INFORMATION WANTED 498</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 499</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES : Surgical service of the United States Naval Hospital,
New Orleans, La.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. J. Riddick and Lieutenant Commander E. A.
Stephens, Medical Corps, U. S.N.<span> </span><span> </span>507</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERIA IN THE NAVAL SERVICE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N.<span> </span>515</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERICAL CONTRACTURE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 521</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">X-RAY PROCEDURE AND TECHNIQUE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander I. E. Jacobs, Medical Corps, and Chief
Pharmacist's Mate C. B. Worster, U. S. N 524</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Interpretation of abdominal rigidity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>529</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ECHINOCOCCUS CYST.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 530</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NONCORRODIBLE INSTRUMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. C. Thomas, Medical Corps, U. S. N 532</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Aseptic technique for canal instruments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N 533</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumata due to falling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>535</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Administration of neosalvarsan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. B. Bostick, Medical Corps, U. S. N 536</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diet deficiency in Vincent's angina.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Morris, Dental Corps, U. S. N 540</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vincent's infection of the -mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant (j. g.) J. B. Goodall, Dental Corps, U. S. N. R. F <span> </span>542</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Penetrating wound of the pelvis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. P. Gardner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 544</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumatic rupture of spleen —removal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander F. H. Bowman, Medical Corps, U.S. N., and
Lieutenant Commander E. M. Foote, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 545</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operation for wrist drop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. I. Yohannan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 547</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A PLASTIC OPERATION ON THE MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. W. Auerbach, Medical Corps, U. S. N 54S</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A SIMPLE OPERATION FOR TRICHIASIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. S. Cragin, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 551</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ADENO-CARCINOMA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. Boland, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 552</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chancroidal infections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. F. Pearce, Medical Corps, U. S. N 554</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CA8E OF INNOCENT SYPHILIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. W. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 556</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CARCINOMA OF THE TESTICLE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. J. Corcoran, Medical Corps, U. S. N 557</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Removal of an unusually large tumor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. L. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 558</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A RETROSPECT OF NAVAL AND MILITARY MEDICINE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental poisoning — Contributing to the Bulletin —The omission of
the—The future of nursing — Comparative values 627</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine — Mechanism of hiccough — Gases In arterial blood—Treatment
of arsenic poisoning —Treatment of encephalitis letharglca —New test for
nephritis—Blood in pellagra and beri beri —Ocular symptoms in sinus
disease—Reaction from repeated transfusions —Eye symptoms in epidemic
encephalitis —Diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhoids —Cost of venereal
disease—Future of medicine in the United States 637</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases —The criminal—Brain lesions of dementia
praecox —Follow-up studies on mental patients 652</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery—Trauma of the abdomen— Rubber dam tampon —Diagnosis of gastric
or duodenal ulcers —Postoperative thrombophlebitis — Treatment of fractured
patella —Affections of the tibial tubercle— 655</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and Sanitation —Sanitary features of merchant ships 659</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Errata —Centenary of von Helmholtz —Retirement of Filippo Rho, Surgeon
General, Italian Navy—A diagnostic point in tuberculosis —Curing hemorrhoids
—The X-ray and art— Industrial code of<span> </span>New
York —Preservation of eyesight —Basal metabolism —American Society of Tropical
Medicine —Laboratory work in the Far East— Dentistry in South America
—Fireprooflng of fabrics—The exploration of Mount Everest — Physical
development in Japan — Hiccough and encephalitis lethargica —Use of fish as
food in France — Service items 665</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rat-Proofing at the United States Navy Yard, Key West, Fla.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander P. E. Garrison, Medical Corps, U. S. N 673</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of the Fifth Congress of the International Society of Surgery,
Paris.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant S. B. Burk, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F. (Inactive) 681</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Port Au Prince, Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. J. Brown, Medical Corps, U. S. N 695</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical Department of the United States Naval Torpedo Station,
Alexandria, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. C. Kress, Medical Corps, U. S. N 701</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Herman-Perutz Reaction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. V. Genzmer, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 708</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 711</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE V</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Color blindness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain E. J. Grow, Medical Corps, U. S. N 717</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cardiac irregularity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. U. Reed, Medical Corps, U. S. N 732</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Handling of recruits, Marine Barracks, Parris Island.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 740</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Four centuries in the treatment of syphilis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Shaffer, Medical Corps, U. S. N 749</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Marine Corps field hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Cottle, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>762</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Training and care of the football squad, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Md.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant M. H. Roberts, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 770</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Gas poisoning in warfare.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. H. Mankin, Medical Corps, U. S. N 775</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal prophylaxis among U. S. Marines at Honolulu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N_. 783</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Manila Galleon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr, Medical Corps, U. S. N. 787</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">On learning to write-—On several phases of syphilis 801</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SUGGESTED DEVICES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental X-ray film holder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps. U. S. N_- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggestion for recording dental conditions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N-- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CUTANEOUS SPOROTRICHOSIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander R. E. Hoyt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 809</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of pellagra in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Clark, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 813</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute rheumatic fever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. M. Alberty, Medical Corps, U. S. N 814</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of poisoning by oil of chenopodium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood, Medical Corps, U. S. N 818</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brushing the teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>824</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">TWENTY-EIGHT CASES OF PNEUMONIA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. R. Jeffrey, Medical Corps, U. S. N 825</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander S. P. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 830</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cholecystectomy <span> </span>and pyelotomy in
Guam.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander A. H. Robnett, Medical Corps, U. S. N 831</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Elephantiasis of the scrotum.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Breene, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and W. Zur Linden,
chief pharmacist, Medical Corps, U. S. N 884</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rules for massage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. S. Bainbridge, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F— 835</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Transfusion of blood—Diabetes mellitus In the Negro
race— Diagnosis of syphilis In malarial subjects —So-called diseases of the
blood— Singultus— The role of the prostate and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">seminal vesicles in arthritis —Medical aspects of naval aviation — Treating
syphilitics—The etiology of scurvy —Food accessory factors in relation to the
teeth 839</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Immediate surgery in fighting ships —Immediate surgery of war
wounds as practiced in hospital ships —The surgical treatment of empyema by a
closed method—Willems treatment of</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">knee-joint injuries —Observations on primary venereal sores—Resection
of the small intestine for war wounds —Tetanus in the British Army during the
European War 855</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —New method of treatment of trypanosomiasis — Differential
diagnosis in tropical fevers —Schistosomiasis in the Yangtse Valley—Carriers of
dysenteriae among soldiers —Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 870</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. — Cultivation of gonococcus—Aestivo-autumnal
malaria Plasmodia —Virulence of diphtheria-like organisms 885</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy.—Absorption of calcium salts in man— Improvements
in the Nephelometer-Colorimeter — Substitution of turbidimetry for nephelometry
in certain biochemical methods of analysis— Creatinuria —Phosphoric acid in the
blood of normal infants—Basal metabolism of normal women—Fat-soluble vitamine— Standards
for normal basal metabolism 887</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.- —Injuries to the ear in modern warfare— Injuries
to the ear in modern warfare— Symptomatology and diagnosis of foreign bodies in
the air and food passages—Etiology and prevention of injuries to the eye
—Mosher-Totl operation on the lachrymal sac —-Tuberculosis of the middle ear
892</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Colles's Fracture—The French view of an American medical congress —Case
Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital— National cancer week- —
Pharmacopoeia of China —Municipal disposal of garbage—American Journal of
Tropical Medicine —Danger of week-end camping in the Tropics — Influenza
epidemic in the British Navy —Benvenuto Cellini—A Consulting Surgeon in the
Near</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">East—Asphyxiation in Garages —Dental service In the British Navy
—Surgeon Captain Lomas, R. N.—Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William
Osler —John Keats, apothecary and poet — Life and times of Ambroise
Pare—Treatment of ozena —Lead poisoning in the pottery trade—The International
Journal of Gastro-Enterology— Treatment of malarial fever —Formaldehyde
poisoning — Toxic effects of shaking arsphenamine solution —Peking Union Medical
College —Milk standards 901</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 921</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INDEX 983</p>
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Fish, any of approximately 34,000 species of vertebrate animals (phylum Chordata) found in the fresh and salt waters of the world. Living species range from the primitive jawless lampreys and hagfishes through the cartilaginous sharks, skates, and rays to the abundant and diverse bony fishes. Most fish species are cold-blooded; however, one species, the opah (Lampris guttatus), is warm-blooded.
The term fish is applied to a variety of vertebrates of several evolutionary lines. It describes a life-form rather than a taxonomic group. As members of the phylum Chordata, fish share certain features with other vertebrates. These features are gill slits at some point in the life cycle, a notochord, or skeletal supporting rod, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, and a tail. Living fishes represent some five classes, which are as distinct from one another as are the four classes of familiar air-breathing animals—amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. For example, the jawless fishes (Agnatha) have gills in pouches and lack limb girdles. Extant agnathans are the lampreys and the hagfishes. As the name implies, the skeletons of fishes of the class Chondrichthyes (from chondr, “cartilage,” and ichthyes, “fish”) are made entirely of cartilage. Modern fish of this class lack a swim bladder, and their scales and teeth are made up of the same placoid material. Sharks, skates, and rays are examples of cartilaginous fishes. The bony fishes are by far the largest class. Examples range from the tiny seahorse to the 450-kg (1,000-pound) blue marlin, from the flattened soles and flounders to the boxy puffers and ocean sunfishes. Unlike the scales of the cartilaginous fishes, those of bony fishes, when present, grow throughout life and are made up of thin overlapping plates of bone. Bony fishes also have an operculum that covers the gill slits.
The study of fishes, the science of ichthyology, is of broad importance. Fishes are of interest to humans for many reasons, the most important being their relationship with and dependence on the environment. A more obvious reason for interest in fishes is their role as a moderate but important part of the world’s food supply. This resource, once thought unlimited, is now realized to be finite and in delicate balance with the biological, chemical, and physical factors of the aquatic environment. Overfishing, pollution, and alteration of the environment are the chief enemies of proper fisheries management, both in fresh waters and in the ocean. (For a detailed discussion of the technology and economics of fisheries, see commercial fishing.) Another practical reason for studying fishes is their use in disease control. As predators on mosquito larvae, they help curb malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.
Fishes are valuable laboratory animals in many aspects of medical and biological research. For example, the readiness of many fishes to acclimate to captivity has allowed biologists to study behaviour, physiology, and even ecology under relatively natural conditions. Fishes have been especially important in the study of animal behaviour, where research on fishes has provided a broad base for the understanding of the more flexible behaviour of the higher vertebrates. The zebra fish is used as a model in studies of gene expression.
There are aesthetic and recreational reasons for an interest in fishes. Millions of people keep live fishes in home aquariums for the simple pleasure of observing the beauty and behaviour of animals otherwise unfamiliar to them. Aquarium fishes provide a personal challenge to many aquarists, allowing them to test their ability to keep a small section of the natural environment in their homes. Sportfishing is another way of enjoying the natural environment, also indulged in by millions of people every year. Interest in aquarium fishes and sportfishing supports multimillion-dollar industries throughout the world.
Fishes have been in existence for more than 450 million years, during which time they have evolved repeatedly to fit into almost every conceivable type of aquatic habitat. In a sense, land vertebrates are simply highly modified fishes: when fishes colonized the land habitat, they became tetrapod (four-legged) land vertebrates. The popular conception of a fish as a slippery, streamlined aquatic animal that possesses fins and breathes by gills applies to many fishes, but far more fishes deviate from that conception than conform to it. For example, the body is elongate in many forms and greatly shortened in others; the body is flattened in some (principally in bottom-dwelling fishes) and laterally compressed in many others; the fins may be elaborately extended, forming intricate shapes, or they may be reduced or even lost; and the positions of the mouth, eyes, nostrils, and gill openings vary widely. Air breathers have appeared in several evolutionary lines.
Many fishes are cryptically coloured and shaped, closely matching their respective environments; others are among the most brilliantly coloured of all organisms, with a wide range of hues, often of striking intensity, on a single individual. The brilliance of pigments may be enhanced by the surface structure of the fish, so that it almost seems to glow. A number of unrelated fishes have actual light-producing organs. Many fishes are able to alter their coloration—some for the purpose of camouflage, others for the enhancement of behavioral signals.
Fishes range in adult length from less than 10 mm (0.4 inch) to more than 20 metres (60 feet) and in weight from about 1.5 grams (less than 0.06 ounce) to many thousands of kilograms. Some live in shallow thermal springs at temperatures slightly above 42 °C (100 °F), others in cold Arctic seas a few degrees below 0 °C (32 °F) or in cold deep waters more than 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) beneath the ocean surface. The structural and, especially, the physiological adaptations for life at such extremes are relatively poorly known and provide the scientifically curious with great incentive for study.
Almost all natural bodies of water bear fish life, the exceptions being very hot thermal ponds and extremely salt-alkaline lakes, such as the Dead Sea in Asia and the Great Salt Lake in North America. The present distribution of fishes is a result of the geological history and development of Earth as well as the ability of fishes to undergo evolutionary change and to adapt to the available habitats. Fishes may be seen to be distributed according to habitat and according to geographical area. Major habitat differences are marine and freshwater. For the most part, the fishes in a marine habitat differ from those in a freshwater habitat, even in adjacent areas, but some, such as the salmon, migrate from one to the other. The freshwater habitats may be seen to be of many kinds. Fishes found in mountain torrents, Arctic lakes, tropical lakes, temperate streams, and tropical rivers will all differ from each other, both in obvious gross structure and in physiological attributes. Even in closely adjacent habitats where, for example, a tropical mountain torrent enters a lowland stream, the fish fauna will differ. The marine habitats can be divided into deep ocean floors (benthic), mid-water oceanic (bathypelagic), surface oceanic (pelagic), rocky coast, sandy coast, muddy shores, bays, estuaries, and others. Also, for example, rocky coastal shores in tropical and temperate regions will have different fish faunas, even when such habitats occur along the same coastline.
Although much is known about the present geographical distribution of fishes, far less is known about how that distribution came about. Many parts of the fish fauna of the fresh waters of North America and Eurasia are related and undoubtedly have a common origin. The faunas of Africa and South America are related, extremely old, and probably an expression of the drifting apart of the two continents. The fauna of southern Asia is related to that of Central Asia, and some of it appears to have entered Africa. The extremely large shore-fish faunas of the Indian and tropical Pacific oceans comprise a related complex, but the tropical shore fauna of the Atlantic, although containing Indo-Pacific components, is relatively limited and probably younger. The Arctic and Antarctic marine faunas are quite different from each other. The shore fauna of the North Pacific is quite distinct, and that of the North Atlantic more limited and probably younger. Pelagic oceanic fishes, especially those in deep waters, are similar the world over, showing little geographical isolation in terms of family groups. The deep oceanic habitat is very much the same throughout the world, but species differences do exist, showing geographical areas determined by oceanic currents and water masses.
All aspects of the life of a fish are closely correlated with adaptation to the total environment, physical, chemical, and biological. In studies, all the interdependent aspects of fish, such as behaviour, locomotion, reproduction, and physical and physiological characteristics, must be taken into account.
Correlated with their adaptation to an extremely wide variety of habitats is the extremely wide variety of life cycles that fishes display. The great majority hatch from relatively small eggs a few days to several weeks or more after the eggs are scattered in the water. Newly hatched young are still partially undeveloped and are called larvae until body structures such as fins, skeleton, and some organs are fully formed. Larval life is often very short, usually less than a few weeks, but it can be very long, some lampreys continuing as larvae for at least five years. Young and larval fishes, before reaching sexual maturity, must grow considerably, and their small size and other factors often dictate that they live in a habitat different than that of the adults. For example, most tropical marine shore fishes have pelagic larvae. Larval food also is different, and larval fishes often live in shallow waters, where they may be less exposed to predators.
After a fish reaches adult size, the length of its life is subject to many factors, such as innate rates of aging, predation pressure, and the nature of the local climate. The longevity of a species in the protected environment of an aquarium may have nothing to do with how long members of that species live in the wild. Many small fishes live only one to three years at the most. In some species, however, individuals may live as long as 10 or 20 or even 100 years.
Fish behaviour is a complicated and varied subject. As in almost all animals with a central nervous system, the nature of a response of an individual fish to stimuli from its environment depends upon the inherited characteristics of its nervous system, on what it has learned from past experience, and on the nature of the stimuli. Compared with the variety of human responses, however, that of a fish is stereotyped, not subject to much modification by “thought” or learning, and investigators must guard against anthropomorphic interpretations of fish behaviour.
Fishes perceive the world around them by the usual senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste and by special lateral line water-current detectors. In the few fishes that generate electric fields, a process that might best be called electrolocation aids in perception. One or another of these senses often is emphasized at the expense of others, depending upon the fish’s other adaptations. In fishes with large eyes, the sense of smell may be reduced; others, with small eyes, hunt and feed primarily by smell (such as some eels).
Specialized behaviour is primarily concerned with the three most important activities in the fish’s life: feeding, reproduction, and escape from enemies. Schooling behaviour of sardines on the high seas, for instance, is largely a protective device to avoid enemies, but it is also associated with and modified by their breeding and feeding requirements. Predatory fishes are often solitary, lying in wait to dart suddenly after their prey, a kind of locomotion impossible for beaked parrot fishes, which feed on coral, swimming in small groups from one coral head to the next. In addition, some predatory fishes that inhabit pelagic environments, such as tunas, often school.
Sleep in fishes, all of which lack true eyelids, consists of a seemingly listless state in which the fish maintains its balance but moves slowly. If attacked or disturbed, most can dart away. A few kinds of fishes lie on the bottom to sleep. Most catfishes, some loaches, and some eels and electric fishes are strictly nocturnal, being active and hunting for food during the night and retiring during the day to holes, thick vegetation, or other protective parts of the environment.
Communication between members of a species or between members of two or more species often is extremely important, especially in breeding behaviour (see below Reproduction). The mode of communication may be visual, as between the small so-called cleaner fish and a large fish of a very different species. The larger fish often allows the cleaner to enter its mouth to remove gill parasites. The cleaner is recognized by its distinctive colour and actions and therefore is not eaten, even if the larger fish is normally a predator. Communication is often chemical, signals being sent by specific chemicals called pheromones.
Many fishes have a streamlined body and swim freely in open water. Fish locomotion is closely correlated with habitat and ecological niche (the general position of the animal to its environment).
Many fishes in both marine and fresh waters swim at the surface and have mouths adapted to feed best (and sometimes only) at the surface. Often such fishes are long and slender, able to dart at surface insects or at other surface fishes and in turn to dart away from predators; needlefishes, halfbeaks, and topminnows (such as killifish and mosquito fish) are good examples. Oceanic flying fishes escape their predators by gathering speed above the water surface, with the lower lobe of the tail providing thrust in the water. They then glide hundreds of yards on enlarged, winglike pectoral and pelvic fins. South American freshwater flying fishes escape their enemies by jumping and propelling their strongly keeled bodies out of the water.
So-called mid-water swimmers, the most common type of fish, are of many kinds and live in many habitats. The powerful fusiform tunas and the trouts, for example, are adapted for strong, fast swimming, the tunas to capture prey speedily in the open ocean and the trouts to cope with the swift currents of streams and rivers. The trout body form is well adapted to many habitats. Fishes that live in relatively quiet waters such as bays or lake shores or slow rivers usually are not strong, fast swimmers but are capable of short, quick bursts of speed to escape a predator. Many of these fishes have their sides flattened, examples being the sunfish and the freshwater angelfish of aquarists. Fish associated with the bottom or substrate usually are slow swimmers. Open-water plankton-feeding fishes almost always remain fusiform and are capable of rapid, strong movement (for example, sardines and herrings of the open ocean and also many small minnows of streams and lakes).
Bottom-living fishes are of many kinds and have undergone many types of modification of their body shape and swimming habits. Rays, which evolved from strong-swimming mid-water sharks, usually stay close to the bottom and move by undulating their large pectoral fins. Flounders live in a similar habitat and move over the bottom by undulating the entire body. Many bottom fishes dart from place to place, resting on the bottom between movements, a motion common in gobies. One goby relative, the mudskipper, has taken to living at the edge of pools along the shore of muddy mangrove swamps. It escapes its enemies by flipping rapidly over the mud, out of the water. Some catfishes, synbranchid eels, the so-called climbing perch, and a few other fishes venture out over damp ground to find more promising waters than those that they left. They move by wriggling their bodies, sometimes using strong pectoral fins; most have accessory air-breathing organs. Many bottom-dwelling fishes live in mud holes or rocky crevices. Marine eels and gobies commonly are found in such habitats and for the most part venture far beyond their cavelike homes. Some bottom dwellers, such as the clingfishes (Gobiesocidae), have developed powerful adhesive disks that enable them to remain in place on the substrate in areas such as rocky coasts, where the action of the waves is great.
The methods of reproduction in fishes are varied, but most fishes lay a large number of small eggs, fertilized and scattered outside of the body. The eggs of pelagic fishes usually remain suspended in the open water. Many shore and freshwater fishes lay eggs on the bottom or among plants. Some have adhesive eggs. The mortality of the young and especially of the eggs is very high, and often only a few individuals grow to maturity out of hundreds, thousands, and in some cases millions of eggs laid.
Males produce sperm, usually as a milky white substance called milt, in two (sometimes one) testes within the body cavity. In bony fishes a sperm duct leads from each testis to a urogenital opening behind the vent or anus. In sharks and rays and in cyclostomes the duct leads to a cloaca. Sometimes the pelvic fins are modified to help transmit the milt to the eggs at the female’s vent or on the substrate where the female has placed them. Sometimes accessory organs are used to fertilize females internally—for example, the claspers of many sharks and rays.
In the females the eggs are formed in two ovaries (sometimes only one) and pass through the ovaries to the urogenital opening and to the outside. In some fishes the eggs are fertilized internally but are shed before development takes place. Members of about a dozen families each of bony fishes (teleosts) and sharks bear live young. Many skates and rays also bear live young. In some bony fishes the eggs simply develop within the female, the young emerging when the eggs hatch (ovoviviparous). Others develop within the ovary and are nourished by ovarian tissues after hatching (viviparous). There are also other methods utilized by fishes to nourish young within the female. In all live-bearers the young are born at a relatively large size and are few in number. In one family of primarily marine fishes, the surfperches from the Pacific coast of North America, Japan, and Korea, the males of at least one species are born sexually mature, although they are not fully grown.
Some fishes are hermaphroditic—an individual producing both sperm and eggs, usually at different stages of its life. Self-fertilization, however, is probably rare.
Successful reproduction and, in many cases, defense of the eggs and the young are assured by rather stereotypical but often elaborate courtship and parental behaviour, either by the male or the female or both. Some fishes prepare nests by hollowing out depressions in the sand bottom (cichlids, for example), build nests with plant materials and sticky threads excreted by the kidneys (sticklebacks), or blow a cluster of mucus-covered bubbles at the water surface (gouramis). The eggs are laid in these structures. Some varieties of cichlids and catfishes incubate eggs in their mouths.
Some fishes, such as salmon, undergo long migrations from the ocean and up large rivers to spawn in the gravel beds where they themselves hatched (anadromous fishes). Some, such as the freshwater eels (family Anguillidae), live and grow to maturity in fresh water and migrate to the sea to spawn (catadromous fishes). Other fishes undertake shorter migrations from lakes into streams, within the ocean, or enter spawning habitats that they do not ordinarily occupy in other ways.
The basic structure and function of the fish body are similar to those of all other vertebrates. The usual four types of tissues are present: surface or epithelial, connective (bone, cartilage, and fibrous tissues, as well as their derivative, blood), nerve, and muscle tissues. In addition, the fish’s organs and organ systems parallel those of other vertebrates.
The typical fish body is streamlined and spindle-shaped, with an anterior head, a gill apparatus, and a heart, the latter lying in the midline just below the gill chamber. The body cavity, containing the vital organs, is situated behind the head in the lower anterior part of the body. The anus usually marks the posterior termination of the body cavity and most often occurs just in front of the base of the anal fin. The spinal cord and vertebral column continue from the posterior part of the head to the base of the tail fin, passing dorsal to the body cavity and through the caudal (tail) region behind the body cavity. Most of the body is of muscular tissue, a high proportion of which is necessitated by swimming. In the course of evolution this basic body plan has been modified repeatedly into the many varieties of fish shapes that exist today.
The skeleton forms an integral part of the fish’s locomotion system, as well as serving to protect vital parts. The internal skeleton consists of the skull bones (except for the roofing bones of the head, which are really part of the external skeleton), the vertebral column, and the fin supports (fin rays). The fin supports are derived from the external skeleton but will be treated here because of their close functional relationship to the internal skeleton. The internal skeleton of cyclostomes, sharks, and rays is of cartilage; that of many fossil groups and some primitive living fishes is mostly of cartilage but may include some bone. In place of the vertebral column, the earliest vertebrates had a fully developed notochord, a flexible stiff rod of viscous cells surrounded by a strong fibrous sheath. During the evolution of modern fishes the rod was replaced in part by cartilage and then by ossified cartilage. Sharks and rays retain a cartilaginous vertebral column; bony fishes have spool-shaped vertebrae that in the more primitive living forms only partially replace the notochord. The skull, including the gill arches and jaws of bony fishes, is fully, or at least partially, ossified. That of sharks and rays remains cartilaginous, at times partially replaced by calcium deposits but never by true bone.
The supportive elements of the fins (basal or radial bones or both) have changed greatly during fish evolution. Some of these changes are described in the section below (Evolution and paleontology). Most fishes possess a single dorsal fin on the midline of the back. Many have two and a few have three dorsal fins. The other fins are the single tail and anal fins and paired pelvic and pectoral fins. A small fin, the adipose fin, with hairlike fin rays, occurs in many of the relatively primitive teleosts (such as trout) on the back near the base of the caudal fin.
The skin of a fish must serve many functions. It aids in maintaining the osmotic balance, provides physical protection for the body, is the site of coloration, contains sensory receptors, and, in some fishes, functions in respiration. Mucous glands, which aid in maintaining the water balance and offer protection from bacteria, are extremely numerous in fish skin, especially in cyclostomes and teleosts. Since mucous glands are present in the modern lampreys, it is reasonable to assume that they were present in primitive fishes, such as the ancient Silurian and Devonian agnathans. Protection from abrasion and predation is another function of the fish skin, and dermal (skin) bone arose early in fish evolution in response to this need. It is thought that bone first evolved in skin and only later invaded the cartilaginous areas of the fish’s body, to provide additional support and protection. There is some argument as to which came first, cartilage or bone, and fossil evidence does not settle the question. In any event, dermal bone has played an important part in fish evolution and has different characteristics in different groups of fishes. Several groups are characterized at least in part by the kind of bony scales they possess.
Scales have played an important part in the evolution of fishes. Primitive fishes usually had thick bony plates or thick scales in several layers of bone, enamel, and related substances. Modern teleost fishes have scales of bone, which, while still protective, allow much more freedom of motion in the body. A few modern teleosts (some catfishes, sticklebacks, and others) have secondarily acquired bony plates in the skin. Modern and early sharks possessed placoid scales, a relatively primitive type of scale with a toothlike structure, consisting of an outside layer of enamel-like substance (vitrodentine), an inner layer of dentine, and a pulp cavity containing nerves and blood vessels. Primitive bony fishes had thick scales of either the ganoid or the cosmoid type. Cosmoid scales have a hard, enamel-like outer layer, an inner layer of cosmine (a form of dentine), and then a layer of vascular bone (isopedine). In ganoid scales the hard outer layer is different chemically and is called ganoin. Under this is a cosminelike layer and then a vascular bony layer. The thin, translucent bony scales of modern fishes, called cycloid and ctenoid (the latter distinguished by serrations at the edges), lack enameloid and dentine layers.
Skin has several other functions in fishes. It is well supplied with nerve endings and presumably receives tactile, thermal, and pain stimuli. Skin is also well supplied with blood vessels. Some fishes breathe in part through the skin, by the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the surrounding water and numerous small blood vessels near the skin surface.
Skin serves as protection through the control of coloration. Fishes exhibit an almost limitless range of colours. The colours often blend closely with the surroundings, effectively hiding the animal. Many fishes use bright colours for territorial advertisement or as recognition marks for other members of their own species, or sometimes for members of other species. Many fishes can change their colour to a greater or lesser degree, by movement of pigment within the pigment cells (chromatophores). Black pigment cells (melanophores), of almost universal occurrence in fishes, are often juxtaposed with other pigment cells. When placed beneath iridocytes or leucophores (bearing the silvery or white pigment guanine), melanophores produce structural colours of blue and green. These colours are often extremely intense, because they are formed by refraction of light through the needlelike crystals of guanine. The blue and green refracted colours are often relatively pure, lacking the red and yellow rays, which have been absorbed by the black pigment (melanin) of the melanophores. Yellow, orange, and red colours are produced by erythrophores, cells containing the appropriate carotenoid pigments. Other colours are produced by combinations of melanophores, erythrophores, and iridocytes.
The major portion of the body of most fishes consists of muscles. Most of the mass is trunk musculature, the fin muscles usually being relatively small. The caudal fin is usually the most powerful fin, being moved by the trunk musculature. The body musculature is usually arranged in rows of chevron-shaped segments on each side. Contractions of these segments, each attached to adjacent vertebrae and vertebral processes, bends the body on the vertebral joint, producing successive undulations of the body, passing from the head to the tail, and producing driving strokes of the tail. It is the latter that provides the strong forward movement for most fishes.
The digestive system, in a functional sense, starts at the mouth, with the teeth used to capture prey or collect plant foods. Mouth shape and tooth structure vary greatly in fishes, depending on the kind of food normally eaten. Most fishes are predacious, feeding on small invertebrates or other fishes and have simple conical teeth on the jaws, on at least some of the bones of the roof of the mouth, and on special gill arch structures just in front of the esophagus. The latter are throat teeth. Most predacious fishes swallow their prey whole, and the teeth are used for grasping and holding prey, for orienting prey to be swallowed (head first) and for working the prey toward the esophagus. There are a variety of tooth types in fishes. Some fishes, such as sharks and piranhas, have cutting teeth for biting chunks out of their victims. A shark’s tooth, although superficially like that of a piranha, appears in many respects to be a modified scale, while that of the piranha is like that of other bony fishes, consisting of dentine and enamel. Parrot fishes have beaklike mouths with short incisor-like teeth for breaking off coral and have heavy pavementlike throat teeth for crushing the coral. Some catfishes have small brushlike teeth, arranged in rows on the jaws, for scraping plant and animal growth from rocks. Many fishes (such as the Cyprinidae or minnows) have no jaw teeth at all but have very strong throat teeth.
Some fishes gather planktonic food by straining it from their gill cavities with numerous elongate stiff rods (gill rakers) anchored by one end to the gill bars. The food collected on these rods is passed to the throat, where it is swallowed. Most fishes have only short gill rakers that help keep food particles from escaping out the mouth cavity into the gill chamber.
Once reaching the throat, food enters a short, often greatly distensible esophagus, a simple tube with a muscular wall leading into a stomach. The stomach varies greatly in fishes, depending upon the diet. In most predacious fishes it is a simple straight or curved tube or pouch with a muscular wall and a glandular lining. Food is largely digested there and leaves the stomach in liquid form.
Between the stomach and the intestine, ducts enter the digestive tube from the liver and pancreas. The liver is a large, clearly defined organ. The pancreas may be embedded in it, diffused through it, or broken into small parts spread along some of the intestine. The junction between the stomach and the intestine is marked by a muscular valve. Pyloric ceca (blind sacs) occur in some fishes at this junction and have a digestive or absorptive function or both.
The intestine itself is quite variable in length, depending upon the fish’s diet. It is short in predacious forms, sometimes no longer than the body cavity, but long in herbivorous forms, being coiled and several times longer than the entire length of the fish in some species of South American catfishes. The intestine is primarily an organ for absorbing nutrients into the bloodstream. The larger its internal surface, the greater its absorptive efficiency, and a spiral valve is one method of increasing its absorption surface.
Sharks, rays, chimaeras, lungfishes, surviving chondrosteans, holosteans, and even a few of the more primitive teleosts have a spiral valve or at least traces of it in the intestine. Most modern teleosts have increased the area of the intestinal walls by having numerous folds and villi (fingerlike projections) somewhat like those in humans. Undigested substances are passed to the exterior through the anus in most teleost fishes. In lungfishes, sharks, and rays, it is first passed through the cloaca, a common cavity receiving the intestinal opening and the ducts from the urogenital system.
Oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolve in water, and most fishes exchange dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide in water by means of the gills. The gills lie behind and to the side of the mouth cavity and consist of fleshy filaments supported by the gill arches and filled with blood vessels, which give gills a bright red colour. Water taken in continuously through the mouth passes backward between the gill bars and over the gill filaments, where the exchange of gases takes place. The gills are protected by a gill cover in teleosts and many other fishes but by flaps of skin in sharks, rays, and some of the older fossil fish groups. The blood capillaries in the gill filaments are close to the gill surface to take up oxygen from the water and to give up excess carbon dioxide to the water.
Most modern fishes have a hydrostatic (ballast) organ, called the swim bladder, that lies in the body cavity just below the kidney and above the stomach and intestine. It originated as a diverticulum of the digestive canal. In advanced teleosts, especially the acanthopterygians, the bladder has lost its connection with the digestive tract, a condition called physoclistic. The connection has been retained (physostomous) by many relatively primitive teleosts. In several unrelated lines of fishes, the bladder has become specialized as a lung or, at least, as a highly vascularized accessory breathing organ. Some fishes with such accessory organs are obligate air breathers and will drown if denied access to the surface, even in well-oxygenated water. Fishes with a hydrostatic form of swim bladder can control their depth by regulating the amount of gas in the bladder. The gas, mostly oxygen, is secreted into the bladder by special glands, rendering the fish more buoyant; the gas is absorbed into the bloodstream by another special organ, reducing the overall buoyancy and allowing the fish to sink. Some deep-sea fishes may have oils, rather than gas, in the bladder. Other deep-sea and some bottom-living forms have much-reduced swim bladders or have lost the organ entirely.
The swim bladder of fishes follows the same developmental pattern as the lungs of land vertebrates. There is no doubt that the two structures have the same historical origin in primitive fishes. More or less intermediate forms still survive among the more primitive types of fishes, such as the lungfishes Lepidosiren and Protopterus.
The circulatory, or blood vascular, system consists of the heart, the arteries, the capillaries, and the veins. It is in the capillaries that the interchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and other substances such as hormones and waste products takes place. The capillaries lead to the veins, which return the venous blood with its waste products to the heart, kidneys, and gills. There are two kinds of capillary beds: those in the gills and those in the rest of the body. The heart, a folded continuous muscular tube with three or four saclike enlargements, undergoes rhythmic contractions and receives venous blood in a sinus venosus. It passes the blood to an auricle and then into a thick muscular pump, the ventricle. From the ventricle the blood goes to a bulbous structure at the base of a ventral aorta just below the gills. The blood passes to the afferent (receiving) arteries of the gill arches and then to the gill capillaries. There waste gases are given off to the environment, and oxygen is absorbed. The oxygenated blood enters efferent (exuant) arteries of the gill arches and then flows into the dorsal aorta. From there blood is distributed to the tissues and organs of the body. One-way valves prevent backflow. The circulation of fishes thus differs from that of the reptiles, birds, and mammals in that oxygenated blood is not returned to the heart prior to distribution to the other parts of the body.
The primary excretory organ in fishes, as in other vertebrates, is the kidney. In fishes some excretion also takes place in the digestive tract, skin, and especially the gills (where ammonia is given off). Compared with land vertebrates, fishes have a special problem in maintaining their internal environment at a constant concentration of water and dissolved substances, such as salts. Proper balance of the internal environment (homeostasis) of a fish is in a great part maintained by the excretory system, especially the kidney.
The kidney, gills, and skin play an important role in maintaining a fish’s internal environment and checking the effects of osmosis. Marine fishes live in an environment in which the water around them has a greater concentration of salts than they can have inside their body and still maintain life. Freshwater fishes, on the other hand, live in water with a much lower concentration of salts than they require inside their bodies. Osmosis tends to promote the loss of water from the body of a marine fish and absorption of water by that of a freshwater fish. Mucus in the skin tends to slow the process but is not a sufficient barrier to prevent the movement of fluids through the permeable skin. When solutions on two sides of a permeable membrane have different concentrations of dissolved substances, water will pass through the membrane into the more concentrated solution, while the dissolved chemicals move into the area of lower concentration (diffusion).
The kidney of freshwater fishes is often larger in relation to body weight than that of marine fishes. In both groups the kidney excretes wastes from the body, but the kidney of freshwater fishes also excretes large amounts of water, counteracting the water absorbed through the skin. Freshwater fishes tend to lose salt to the environment and must replace it. They get some salt from their food, but the gills and skin inside the mouth actively absorb salt from water passed through the mouth. This absorption is performed by special cells capable of moving salts against the diffusion gradient. Freshwater fishes drink very little water and take in little water with their food.
Marine fishes must conserve water, and therefore their kidneys excrete little water. To maintain their water balance, marine fishes drink large quantities of seawater, retaining most of the water and excreting the salt. Most nitrogenous waste in marine fishes appears to be secreted by the gills as ammonia. Marine fishes can excrete salt by clusters of special cells (chloride cells) in the gills.
There are several teleosts—for example, the salmon—that travel between fresh water and seawater and must adjust to the reversal of osmotic gradients. They adjust their physiological processes by spending time (often surprisingly little time) in the intermediate brackish environment.
Marine hagfishes, sharks, and rays have osmotic concentrations in their blood about equal to that of seawater and so do not have to drink water nor perform much physiological work to maintain their osmotic balance. In sharks and rays the osmotic concentration is kept high by retention of urea in the blood. Freshwater sharks have a lowered concentration of urea in the blood.
Endocrine glands secrete their products into the bloodstream and body tissues and, along with the central nervous system, control and regulate many kinds of body functions. Cyclostomes have a well-developed endocrine system, and presumably it was well developed in the early Agnatha, ancestral to modern fishes. Although the endocrine system in fishes is similar to that of higher vertebrates, there are numerous differences in detail. The pituitary, the thyroid, the suprarenals, the adrenals, the pancreatic islets, the sex glands (ovaries and testes), the inner wall of the intestine, and the bodies of the ultimobranchial gland make up the endocrine system in fishes. There are some others whose function is not well understood. These organs regulate sexual activity and reproduction, growth, osmotic pressure, general metabolic activities such as the storage of fat and the utilization of foodstuffs, blood pressure, and certain aspects of skin colour. Many of these activities are also controlled in part by the central nervous system, which works with the endocrine system in maintaining the life of a fish. Some parts of the endocrine system are developmentally, and undoubtedly evolutionarily, derived from the nervous system.
As in all vertebrates, the nervous system of fishes is the primary mechanism coordinating body activities, as well as integrating these activities in the appropriate manner with stimuli from the environment. The central nervous system, consisting of the brain and spinal cord, is the primary integrating mechanism. The peripheral nervous system, consisting of nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord to various body organs, carries sensory information from special receptor organs such as the eyes, internal ears, nares (sense of smell), taste glands, and others to the integrating centres of the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system also carries information via different nerve cells from the integrating centres of the brain and spinal cord. This coded information is carried to the various organs and body systems, such as the skeletal muscular system, for appropriate action in response to the original external or internal stimulus. Another branch of the nervous system, the autonomic nervous system, helps to coordinate the activities of many glands and organs and is itself closely connected to the integrating centres of the brain.
The brain of the fish is divided into several anatomical and functional parts, all closely interconnected but each serving as the primary centre of integrating particular kinds of responses and activities. Several of these centres or parts are primarily associated with one type of sensory perception, such as sight, hearing, or smell (olfaction).
The sense of smell is important in almost all fishes. Certain eels with tiny eyes depend mostly on smell for location of food. The olfactory, or nasal, organ of fishes is located on the dorsal surface of the snout. The lining of the nasal organ has special sensory cells that perceive chemicals dissolved in the water, such as substances from food material, and send sensory information to the brain by way of the first cranial nerve. Odour also serves as an alarm system. Many fishes, especially various species of freshwater minnows, react with alarm to a chemical released from the skin of an injured member of their own species.
Many fishes have a well-developed sense of taste, and tiny pitlike taste buds or organs are located not only within their mouth cavities but also over their heads and parts of their body. Catfishes, which often have poor vision, have barbels (“whiskers”) that serve as supplementary taste organs, those around the mouth being actively used to search out food on the bottom. Some species of naturally blind cave fishes are especially well supplied with taste buds, which often cover most of their body surface.
Sight is extremely important in most fishes. The eye of a fish is basically like that of all other vertebrates, but the eyes of fishes are extremely varied in structure and adaptation. In general, fishes living in dark and dim water habitats have large eyes, unless they have specialized in some compensatory way so that another sense (such as smell) is dominant, in which case the eyes will often be reduced. Fishes living in brightly lighted shallow waters often will have relatively small but efficient eyes. Cyclostomes have somewhat less elaborate eyes than other fishes, with skin stretched over the eyeball perhaps making their vision somewhat less effective. Most fishes have a spherical lens and accommodate their vision to far or near subjects by moving the lens within the eyeball. A few sharks accommodate by changing the shape of the lens, as in land vertebrates. Those fishes that are heavily dependent upon the eyes have especially strong muscles for accommodation. Most fishes see well, despite the restrictions imposed by frequent turbidity of the water and by light refraction.
Fossil evidence suggests that colour vision evolved in fishes more than 300 million years ago, but not all living fishes have retained this ability. Experimental evidence indicates that many shallow-water fishes, if not all, have colour vision and see some colours especially well, but some bottom-dwelling shore fishes live in areas where the water is sufficiently deep to filter out most if not all colours, and these fishes apparently never see colours. When tested in shallow water, they apparently are unable to respond to colour differences.
Sound perception and balance are intimately associated senses in a fish. The organs of hearing are entirely internal, located within the skull, on each side of the brain and somewhat behind the eyes. Sound waves, especially those of low frequencies, travel readily through water and impinge directly upon the bones and fluids of the head and body, to be transmitted to the hearing organs. Fishes readily respond to sound; for example, a trout conditioned to escape by the approach of fishermen will take flight upon perceiving footsteps on a stream bank even if it cannot see a fisherman. Compared with humans, however, the range of sound frequencies heard by fishes is greatly restricted. Many fishes communicate with each other by producing sounds in their swim bladders, in their throats by rasping their teeth, and in other ways.
A fish or other vertebrate seldom has to rely on a single type of sensory information to determine the nature of the environment around it. A catfish uses taste and touch when examining a food object with its oral barbels. Like most other animals, fishes have many touch receptors over their body surface. Pain and temperature receptors also are present in fishes and presumably produce the same kind of information to a fish as to humans. Fishes react in a negative fashion to stimuli that would be painful to human beings, suggesting that they feel a sensation of pain.
An important sensory system in fishes that is absent in other vertebrates (except some amphibians) is the lateral line system. This consists of a series of heavily innervated small canals located in the skin and bone around the eyes, along the lower jaw, over the head, and down the mid-side of the body, where it is associated with the scales. Intermittently along these canals are located tiny sensory organs (pit organs) that apparently detect changes in pressure. The system allows a fish to sense changes in water currents and pressure, thereby helping the fish to orient itself to the various changes that occur in the physical environment.
There is a friend who walks with me his name is Milind Pitle a retired Medicine Scientist , I had told him about my diabetes , while we were walking and he suggested a doctor , I heard that as Dr Chirag Joshi and he gave me the direction , and so foolishly I searched for this imaginary doctor at SV Road Bandra near VN Jewellers , I did not have Milinds number .. anyway while I was coming back , I met another friend Anil Kamath who is a diabetic too and owns a sweet shop Brijwasi at Bandra SV Road , he suggested a diabetes doctor , Dr SD Jain so I landed at Mahim in Feb met the doctor , he changed my medication put me on Glyceree a tablet before breakfast and after breakfast , Janumet 500 a tablet before dinner after dinner .. I followed this from March to June and my sugar still remained high despite rigorously walking for 6 km a day.
And in between I happened to meet Milind Pitale , I told him about my bum trip to a Dr Chirag Joshi , he corrected me and said the Doctors name was Shashank R Joshi eminent endocrinologist and diabetologist , he was feeling bad that he had not given me the doctors number or his own , so after our walk he called for a ricksha and took me to Dr Shashanks clinic at Golden Palace Bandra Turner Road .. The good doctor was in America.
But in June I had gone to Lilavati for my blood test and I took an appointment with Dr SR Joshi.. they told me 19 June .
So I met Dr Shashank R Joshi finally at Lilavati after paying Rs 1500 and he heard me out checked me and prescribed a change in my medication,, He has asked me to take my blood sugar after a week and call up his assistant Dr Salim..
About Dr Shashank R Joshi from Wikipedia
Dr. Shashank R. Joshi MD, DM, FACP, FRCP, FACE is an Indian endocrinologist, diabetologist and medical researcher, considered by many as one of the prominent practitioners of the trade in India.He was honoured by the Government of India, in 2014, by bestowing on him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his services to the field of medicine.[1
orn in Mumbai, the capital of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, Shashank R Joshi had a noteworthy academic career, topping all the medical examinations he sat for with first rank and gold medal.[2][3] Joshi secured his graduate degree in medicine, MBBS, from the Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals, Mumbai which was followed with MD in internal medicine and senior residency from the Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital.[4] He continued his higher education at the Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals and subsequently got DM in endocrinology.[3] He is also a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology(USA), Fellow of the American College of Physicians (USA), Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Glasgow) and the Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh).[3][4] He has a Diploma of Growth from Sweden, too.[2][2][4][5][6]
Dr. Joshi started his career by joining the faculty of the Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital at their endocrinology department.[5] Later, he moved to the Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals as a faculty member. He is now working at Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, as the Consultant Endocrine and Metabolic Physician[4] and has private practice at Joshi Clinic in the city.[2][7] He also works as consultant endocrinologist at Bhatia Hospital,[8] Mumbai[4] and serves as visiting faculty at various Indian and international universities.[4][5]
Dr. Shashank R Joshi is married to Shilpa, who is a dietician and dabetics educator and the couple has two daughters, Samika and Spandana[2]
Positions[edit]
Dr. Joshi is the President of two important organizations, the Indian Academy of Diabetes[9] and the Association of Physicians of India[10] (API).[3][4][5] He was also a former President of the Research Society for Study of Diabetes in India[11] (RSSDI) and the All India Association of Advancing Research in Obesity.[2][3][6][7] He is the former Vice President of the Association of Physicians of India[2][5][6][7] and is now its Advisory Board member.[4]
Dr. Joshi is involved with the activities of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE)[12] and is serving as the Chairperson of its India Chapter.[3][5][6] Some of the past positions he held include:
Visiting Clinician at the Mayo Clinic.[4]
Member of the ICMR-WHO Task Force for Management of Type 2 Diabetes.[4]
Director of the Asian Health Clinic in Western Australia.[4]
Research and publications[edit]
Dr. Shashank Joshi is involved in evidence based research on Endocrinology with special emphasis on Diabetes, Obesity, Thyroid, Osteoporosis and Growth.[3][5] His studies on the Asian Indian phenotype (thin-fat Indian), co-morbidities in hypothyroidism and the impact of vitamin D deficiency on bone health in Asian Indians are notable.[2] He has also worked as the principal investigator in many teams engaged in multinational clinical trials[4] and has covered two epidemics of diabetes and hypertension in India and Adult Growth Hormone deficiency.[2]
Dr. Joshi is a prolific writer of articles on Diabetology and Endocrinology and has published 18 books and monograms[2] and over 600 research publications on topics such as Diabetes, Obesity, Thyroid disorders, Osteoporosis, and Growth.[3][4][5] He is also the Editor of Practical Medicine, a popular undergraduate Indian text book.[4] He is also the Editor Emeritus of the Journal of the Association of Physicians of India[3][4][4][5][13] and has been the Editor of three prominent Indian journals namely Indian Journal of Obesity, Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism[14] and Indian Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.[3][15] Dr. Joshi founded the Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine and was its Executive Editor.[4]
Selected articles
Shashank R. Joshi, Muruga Vadivale, Jamshed J. Dalal, and Ashok Kumar Das (2011). "The Screening India's Twin Epidemic: Study design and methodology (SITE-1)". Indian Journal Endocrinology and Metabolism. 15(Suppl 4) (October): 389–394. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.86857. PMC 3230100.
Talaviya PA, Saboo BD, Joshi SR, Padhiyar JN, Chandarana HK, Shah SJ, Vyas CK, Shah AN (2013). "Pregnancy outcome and glycemic control in women with type 1 diabetes: a retrospective comparison between CSII and MDI treatment". Diabetes Metab Syndrome 7 (April–June): 68–71. doi:10.1016/j.dsx.2013.02.032.
Joshi S, Joshi SR, Mohan V. (2013). "Methodology and feasibility of a structured education program for diabetes education in India: The National Diabetes Educator Program". Indian Journal Endocrinology and Metabolism 17 (May): 396–401. doi:10.4103/2230-8210.111610.
Joshi, S.R., Mohan, V., Joshi, S.S., Mechanick, J.I., Marchetti, A. (2012). "Transcultural diabetes nutrition therapy algorithm: the asian Indian application". Curr Diab Rep. 12 (April): 204–121. doi:10.1007/s11892-012-0260-0. PMID 22354498.
Joshi, S.R., Saboo, B., Vadivale, M., Dani, S.I., Mithal, A., Kaul, U., Badgandi, M., Iyengar, S.S., Viswanathan, V., Sivakadaksham, N., Chattopadhyaya, P.S., Biswas, A.D., Jindal, S., Khan, I.A., Sethi, B.K., Rao, V.D., Dalal, J.J. (2012). "Prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes and hypertension in India--results from the Screening India's Twin Epidemic (SITE) study". Diabetes Technol Ther. 14 (November): 8–15. doi:10.1089/dia.2011.0243. PMID 22050271.
Awards and recognitions[edit]
Dr. Shashank R Joshi was honoured by the Government of India by awarding him the Padma Shri, in 2014, in recognition of his efforts to the cause of medicine.[1] He is also a recipient of the International Clinician Award, received at the 21st American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Annual Scientific and Clinical Congress, Philadelphia. This is an annual award given to practicing endocrinologists, outside the US.[3][7][16]
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
Go to the Book with image in the Internet Archive
Title: United States Naval Medical Bulletin Vol. 15, Nos. 1-4, 1921
Creator: U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Publisher:
Sponsor:
Contributor:
Date: 1921
Language: eng
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Table of Contents</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PORTRAIT OF SURGEON GENERAL E. R. STITT, U. S. NAVY —Frontispiece</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">THE NAVAL HOSPITAL, MARE ISLAND, CALIF. :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operating room technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, and Bessie C.
Graham, Nurse Corps, U. S. N 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The urological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. B. Hepler, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The roentgenological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 30</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The laboratory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps. U. S. N 34</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Features of organization.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. C. White, Medical Corps, U. S. N 40</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General file and record system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. C. Allen, Medical Corps, U. S. N 4T</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested clinical chart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. C. Baker, Medical Corps, U. S. N 49</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The theater.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Chief Pharmacist T. C. Hart, Medical Corps, U. S. N 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Study of one hundred navy desertions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A H. Ehrenclou. Medical Corps, U. S. N., and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Lieutenant W. H. Wilson, Chaplain Corps, U. S. N. R. F 53</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical failures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. N 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Circumcision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 77</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A glue cast for fractures of long bones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N . 79</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculin in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 81</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diphtheria at Mare Island, Calif., in 1920.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Agglutination of human erythrocytes by sera.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and Pharmacist's
Mate E. C. Upp, U. S. N 8G</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A method of ringing the hanging drop, etc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Hospital Apprentice First Class D. G. Willard, U. S. N 92</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preparation of colloidal gold solution.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Marie Karlen. Reserve Nurse Corps, and Pharmacist's Mate First Class
A. E. Bourke, U. S. N 94</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of seventy-five refraction cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 95</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Empyema cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant E. R. Guinan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 99</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute mastoiditis. Page.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 106</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental foci in the etiology of systemic disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, and Lieutenant</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 109</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Transfusion in medical cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. H. Murray, Medical Corps, TJ. S. N 117</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DENTAL BRANCH OF THE HOSPITAL COBPS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 118</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS PEBICABDITI8.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 120</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ACUTE ANILINE POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 123</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Sale, Medical Corps, U. S. N 126</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF NEUROPARALYTIC KERATITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vernal conjunctivitis treated with radium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1 128</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of acute myelitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. E. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 130</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of osteoma of the tibia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 131</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DISLOCATED SEMILUNAR CARTHAGE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF COMPOUND FRACTURE OF TIBIA AND FIBULA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DEATH FROM NITRIC ACID POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U.S. N 133</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NECROSIS OF THE MANDIBLE ; TWO CASES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 134</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Alexis Soyer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 139</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Morale 175</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal statistics of the Army and Navy: A study of certain published
reports.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain C. E. RIggs. Medical Corps, U. S. N 179</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of one hundred compound fractures due to shell fragments or
machine-gun bullets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. L. Clifton, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 191</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Death From Novarsenobenzol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander R. A. Torrance, Medical Corps, U. S. N 193</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mercurochrome —220, in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. L. Darnall, Dental Corps, U. S. N_ 194</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
—The clinical recognition of syphilis. —Mercury bichloride Intravenously. —
Transduodenal lavage. — Immunization against diphtheria. —Buccal auscultation
197</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. — Malingering. —Extending the field of
conscious control. —The patient himself. —Anxiety and fear 210</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Blood transfusion. —Dangers of transfusion. —Mixture of ethyl
chloride, chloroform, and ether for anesthesia. — Skin grafting.—Autoplasties
for baldness. —Bladder tumors 217</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Hospital tires.—Coffee and vitamines 223
Tropical medicine. —Sterilization of ova in bilharziasis.—Antimony in the
treatment of bilharziasis 226</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Cause and diagnosis of glaucoma ; treatment
by myotics.— Corneal disease of tubercular origin. —Action of chloral on the
pupil 227</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Enlistments. —Professional training of experienced officers.—The case of
the U. S. S. Pittsburgh. —Prostatic lithiasis.—Cessation of respiration 15
hours before death. —Chloropierin to exterminate rats. —The Annual Report of
the Surgeon General, U. S. Navy. —Finding malarial parasites.— Icterus in
malaria.—Excretion of quinine.— Student health at the University of
Iowa.—Conference on war victims. —Pleasure and profit in the Medical Corps of
the Navy. —Law regarding thermometers. —Adhesive plaster. —The essential in
nursing. —Laxative cookies.—Samoa. —The Navy Mutual Aid Association 236</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 251</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE<span> </span>VII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VIII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of influenza.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander J. L. Neilson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 269</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Intravenous use of magnesium sulphate in influenzal pneumonia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Hogan, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F.<span> </span>277</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental injuries from electric currents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. J. Zalesky and Lieutenant W. T. Brown, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 279</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of sterilization in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N. 282</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Peptic ulcer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 285</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURVEY OF FIFTY COURT-MARTIAL PRISONERS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Castle, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F<span> </span>291</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hospital training of apprentices.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 296</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of instructing hospital corpsmen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr. Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>302</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Standardizing treatment for venereal disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. D. Owens, Medical Corps, U. S. N 308</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Plan of organization for a naval hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain R. P. Crandall and Commander W. A. Angwin, Medical Corps, U.
S. N 316</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>347</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Calling a spade an implement of horticultural utility 377</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">"To bide the hobbyhorse with the boys " 378</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SIGGESTED DEVICES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">RETINOSCOPIC LENS HOLDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 383</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Strong room for alcohol and narcotics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 385</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Detection of mosquito larvae.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 380</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculous meningitis simulating lethargic encephalitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 387</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Advancement of ocular muscles by the Fox technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U.S. N<span> </span><span> </span>392</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical treatment of "saddle nose" deformity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U. S. N 397</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A HAND PLASTIC.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 399</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dislocation of first cervical vertebra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain G. T. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 400</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Death from neo-arsphenamine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. .T. Za leaky and Lieutenant J. B. Bellinger, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 401</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Thrombosis of the lateral sinus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander E. E. Koebbe, Medical Corps, U. S. N_ 403</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Orchitis complicating tonsillitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenants J. D. Benjamin and T. C. Quirk, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span>408</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operations for trauma of the urethra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. L. Cowles, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. P 407</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sea sickness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander C. E. Henry. Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 410</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of the " West Indian chancroid."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. H. Michael, Medical Corps, U. S. N 412</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —The arsphenaniines in therapeutics. —Recital absorption
of glucose 415</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. —lethargic encephalitis. —Theory of hysteria.
—Mental deficiency 420</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Resuscitation in death under anesthesia. —Advances in anesthesia.
— Sloughing in local anesthesia. —Anesthesia in abdominal surgery. —
Suppurating wounds after abdominal section. —Saving suppurating Incisions.
—Abdominal adhesions. —Perforating gastric and duodenal ulcer. — Persistence of
pyloric and duodenal ulcers. — Diverticula of the duodenum.— Orthopedic
treatment of burns. —Postoperative bronchial irritation. —Care of surgical patients.
—End-to-end anastomosis. —Genital tuberculosis.— Radium therapy of cancer of
bladder. — Radium and malignant genitourinary disease.—Bone tumors. —Fracture
of vertebrae. —Penetrating wounds of chest. —Operation for empyema.—Plastic war
surgery in civil life. —The war's contribution to civil surgery 429</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Typhus fever in Serbia 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bactkriology, and animal parasitology. —Diagnosis of cholera.
—Staining malarial parasites. —Saprophytysm of venereal organisms. — Variation
in size of red cells. —Anophellnes of California. —Reaction from echinococcus fluid
457</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.— Encephalitis lethargica<span> </span>487</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS: <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Bronchospirochaetosis. — Starvation edema. —Dried cabbage as an antiscorbutic.
—Miner's nystagmus. —Endocrines and the teeth. — Orientation of bats. — Sugar
production.- -The teeth of the ancient Egyptians. —Treatment of enlarged
thymus. —Plague in Paris.— Antivenereal campaign in Rouen.— Medical school of
the University of Virginia. —Postgraduate study In the Japanese Navy. — National
Academy of Science.—Peking Unjon Medical College. — The dye Industry. — Naval
medical service as a career. —Naval dispensary and hospital defined.— Death of
Anton Weichselbaum. — Action of the Women's Civic League, Maiden, Mass. — Dr.
Russel H. Boggs. — Preservation of leather. —Service publications. —Picric acid
<span> </span>469</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sewage system in Charlotte Amalia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. L. Pettigrew, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. N. and
Lieutenant E. Peterson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 481</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Application of the Schick reaction to 2,011 naval recruits.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood. Medical Corps, U. S. N 486</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. C. Melborn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sanitary report on Libau, Latvia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. C. Smith and Lieutenant R. P. Parsons,
Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Summer school, Hampton Roads, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. E. Lowman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 495</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INFORMATION WANTED 498</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 499</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES : Surgical service of the United States Naval Hospital,
New Orleans, La.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. J. Riddick and Lieutenant Commander E. A.
Stephens, Medical Corps, U. S.N.<span> </span><span> </span>507</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERIA IN THE NAVAL SERVICE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N.<span> </span>515</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERICAL CONTRACTURE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 521</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">X-RAY PROCEDURE AND TECHNIQUE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander I. E. Jacobs, Medical Corps, and Chief
Pharmacist's Mate C. B. Worster, U. S. N 524</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Interpretation of abdominal rigidity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>529</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ECHINOCOCCUS CYST.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 530</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NONCORRODIBLE INSTRUMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. C. Thomas, Medical Corps, U. S. N 532</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Aseptic technique for canal instruments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N 533</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumata due to falling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>535</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Administration of neosalvarsan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. B. Bostick, Medical Corps, U. S. N 536</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diet deficiency in Vincent's angina.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Morris, Dental Corps, U. S. N 540</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vincent's infection of the -mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant (j. g.) J. B. Goodall, Dental Corps, U. S. N. R. F <span> </span>542</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Penetrating wound of the pelvis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. P. Gardner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 544</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumatic rupture of spleen —removal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander F. H. Bowman, Medical Corps, U.S. N., and
Lieutenant Commander E. M. Foote, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 545</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operation for wrist drop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. I. Yohannan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 547</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A PLASTIC OPERATION ON THE MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. W. Auerbach, Medical Corps, U. S. N 54S</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A SIMPLE OPERATION FOR TRICHIASIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. S. Cragin, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 551</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ADENO-CARCINOMA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. Boland, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 552</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chancroidal infections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. F. Pearce, Medical Corps, U. S. N 554</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CA8E OF INNOCENT SYPHILIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. W. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 556</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CARCINOMA OF THE TESTICLE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. J. Corcoran, Medical Corps, U. S. N 557</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Removal of an unusually large tumor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. L. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 558</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A RETROSPECT OF NAVAL AND MILITARY MEDICINE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental poisoning — Contributing to the Bulletin —The omission of
the—The future of nursing — Comparative values 627</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine — Mechanism of hiccough — Gases In arterial blood—Treatment
of arsenic poisoning —Treatment of encephalitis letharglca —New test for
nephritis—Blood in pellagra and beri beri —Ocular symptoms in sinus
disease—Reaction from repeated transfusions —Eye symptoms in epidemic
encephalitis —Diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhoids —Cost of venereal
disease—Future of medicine in the United States 637</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases —The criminal—Brain lesions of dementia
praecox —Follow-up studies on mental patients 652</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery—Trauma of the abdomen— Rubber dam tampon —Diagnosis of gastric
or duodenal ulcers —Postoperative thrombophlebitis — Treatment of fractured
patella —Affections of the tibial tubercle— 655</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and Sanitation —Sanitary features of merchant ships 659</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Errata —Centenary of von Helmholtz —Retirement of Filippo Rho, Surgeon
General, Italian Navy—A diagnostic point in tuberculosis —Curing hemorrhoids
—The X-ray and art— Industrial code of<span> </span>New
York —Preservation of eyesight —Basal metabolism —American Society of Tropical
Medicine —Laboratory work in the Far East— Dentistry in South America
—Fireprooflng of fabrics—The exploration of Mount Everest — Physical
development in Japan — Hiccough and encephalitis lethargica —Use of fish as
food in France — Service items 665</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rat-Proofing at the United States Navy Yard, Key West, Fla.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander P. E. Garrison, Medical Corps, U. S. N 673</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of the Fifth Congress of the International Society of Surgery,
Paris.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant S. B. Burk, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F. (Inactive) 681</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Port Au Prince, Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. J. Brown, Medical Corps, U. S. N 695</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical Department of the United States Naval Torpedo Station,
Alexandria, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. C. Kress, Medical Corps, U. S. N 701</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Herman-Perutz Reaction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. V. Genzmer, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 708</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 711</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE V</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Color blindness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain E. J. Grow, Medical Corps, U. S. N 717</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cardiac irregularity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. U. Reed, Medical Corps, U. S. N 732</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Handling of recruits, Marine Barracks, Parris Island.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 740</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Four centuries in the treatment of syphilis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Shaffer, Medical Corps, U. S. N 749</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Marine Corps field hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Cottle, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>762</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Training and care of the football squad, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Md.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant M. H. Roberts, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 770</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Gas poisoning in warfare.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. H. Mankin, Medical Corps, U. S. N 775</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal prophylaxis among U. S. Marines at Honolulu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N_. 783</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Manila Galleon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr, Medical Corps, U. S. N. 787</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">On learning to write-—On several phases of syphilis 801</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SUGGESTED DEVICES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental X-ray film holder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps. U. S. N_- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggestion for recording dental conditions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N-- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CUTANEOUS SPOROTRICHOSIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander R. E. Hoyt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 809</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of pellagra in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Clark, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 813</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute rheumatic fever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. M. Alberty, Medical Corps, U. S. N 814</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of poisoning by oil of chenopodium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood, Medical Corps, U. S. N 818</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brushing the teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>824</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">TWENTY-EIGHT CASES OF PNEUMONIA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. R. Jeffrey, Medical Corps, U. S. N 825</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander S. P. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 830</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cholecystectomy <span> </span>and pyelotomy in
Guam.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander A. H. Robnett, Medical Corps, U. S. N 831</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Elephantiasis of the scrotum.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Breene, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and W. Zur Linden,
chief pharmacist, Medical Corps, U. S. N 884</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rules for massage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. S. Bainbridge, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F— 835</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Transfusion of blood—Diabetes mellitus In the Negro
race— Diagnosis of syphilis In malarial subjects —So-called diseases of the
blood— Singultus— The role of the prostate and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">seminal vesicles in arthritis —Medical aspects of naval aviation — Treating
syphilitics—The etiology of scurvy —Food accessory factors in relation to the
teeth 839</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Immediate surgery in fighting ships —Immediate surgery of war
wounds as practiced in hospital ships —The surgical treatment of empyema by a
closed method—Willems treatment of</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">knee-joint injuries —Observations on primary venereal sores—Resection
of the small intestine for war wounds —Tetanus in the British Army during the
European War 855</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —New method of treatment of trypanosomiasis — Differential
diagnosis in tropical fevers —Schistosomiasis in the Yangtse Valley—Carriers of
dysenteriae among soldiers —Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 870</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. — Cultivation of gonococcus—Aestivo-autumnal
malaria Plasmodia —Virulence of diphtheria-like organisms 885</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy.—Absorption of calcium salts in man— Improvements
in the Nephelometer-Colorimeter — Substitution of turbidimetry for nephelometry
in certain biochemical methods of analysis— Creatinuria —Phosphoric acid in the
blood of normal infants—Basal metabolism of normal women—Fat-soluble vitamine— Standards
for normal basal metabolism 887</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.- —Injuries to the ear in modern warfare— Injuries
to the ear in modern warfare— Symptomatology and diagnosis of foreign bodies in
the air and food passages—Etiology and prevention of injuries to the eye
—Mosher-Totl operation on the lachrymal sac —-Tuberculosis of the middle ear
892</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Colles's Fracture—The French view of an American medical congress —Case
Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital— National cancer week- —
Pharmacopoeia of China —Municipal disposal of garbage—American Journal of
Tropical Medicine —Danger of week-end camping in the Tropics — Influenza
epidemic in the British Navy —Benvenuto Cellini—A Consulting Surgeon in the
Near</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">East—Asphyxiation in Garages —Dental service In the British Navy
—Surgeon Captain Lomas, R. N.—Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William
Osler —John Keats, apothecary and poet — Life and times of Ambroise
Pare—Treatment of ozena —Lead poisoning in the pottery trade—The International
Journal of Gastro-Enterology— Treatment of malarial fever —Formaldehyde
poisoning — Toxic effects of shaking arsphenamine solution —Peking Union Medical
College —Milk standards 901</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 921</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INDEX 983</p>
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07:30. 12/11/2022
The ‘Leavings’
There’s a strange use of the word to begin with, that pluralising. This is an odd one. I know this is a ‘diary entry’, but I will have to tell it as a type of story, one Ruin misremembers. It’s really about 4 separate leavings, hence that awkward plural, conjoining to describe one abandoning. Perhaps it could have a sort of subtitle, ‘How Ruin Abandoned the Idea of Family Forever’, or the like. Perhaps it should be called ‘The Sundering(s)’, that’s more or less what it felt like.
The problem with its description is the 50-year gap, that time between then and now, and the confusion generated by the sequencing of events, and reactions to them. Ruin had no records of those domestic cataclysms, so he was, and is, dependent on his ‘sloping off’ grey matter. He would be thrown up against the inadequacies there, of his aging, that drugs and disease induced, devolving self, with no help at all from external hard drives. There were no photographs of that period, or at least none he had access to. Ruin would be feeling his way forward, and back, and he knew how unreliable feelings, or gropings of that sort, are, and were.
This is, perhaps, where fiction and Memoir overlap, that space of forgetting.
He would start with an exchange between Rack and Ruin.
August 19, 2021
Working on 'Quinn's Da'. (photo)
I have had an upsetting situation over the last week relative to family, and ideas of ‘freedom’ and the Covid situation here in the Netherlands. There has always been a certain schism in the family, generated by the sexual abuse in my childhood, and my need to run away when I could generate the courage, at last, to do it at the age of 18. This, of course, was never understood at the time, by anybody, but probably even more so by the younger members of the family. I guess it was seen as a sort of desertion. With no explanation given, it really couldn’t have been seen as anything but that. I remember the tearing away. At the time I couldn’t explain why I had to go. My mother was still determined to win her father back by including her stepbrother in our family, the ‘uncle’ who was abusing me. I didn’t have the words to describe it. Of course, it is also that time of sexual burgeoning and curiosity, a potent time in the development of a young person. I had only recently learnt to use words with any force, up to the age of 14 or so, I had a bad stammer. This was, perhaps, evidence of insecurities, and almost impossible to find a ‘reason’ for, other than to suggest that there must have been some very destabilising influence there even before the abuse.
There is no denying a blood tie, but I then spent 40 years or so doing exactly that. Strangely, I managed to begin to control the stammer around the time the abuse ended, or at least around the time I found the courage to put a stop to it, that finding of one’s voice. I have never understood this completely, but there was a certain steeliness emerging, though it took, perhaps, two years to manage to find the reserves to threaten to shout out and stop it. It was difficult to shout out when you shared a small bedroom with two other brothers (in another bed), and you were finding the whole experience both exhilarating and confusing. I use this description advisedly, acknowledging where some of the confusion comes from, and the blaming of the self for the situation. But my mother should have known not to put a mature man in my bed for two years. I wonder about those two years too, was it one, or one and a half, I don’t know. But there was a vacancy there, for my mother too, a ‘not knowing’ gap, which could not allow her to have any realisation of what she had contrived. I must say, I blamed her for years for this.
I don't anymore.
I do remember that wrench of leaving. I was afraid, wandering off alone, more or less knowing no one outside that enclave, that village with the Round-Tower. I think I might have had 200 Irish pounds (Punt), but I knew I didn’t need a passport to get to England, that heathen land. But I was going anyway. But then we had done this for generations, some with more support, some with far less. It is in our blood and is part of our heritage. This talks of abuse beyond the personal, that story of the subjugation of a country for 400 years, and more, of vicious colonialisation, that running away from serfdom, hunger, abuse, and death. Obviously if you brutalise any country for an extended period of time you will end up with a brutalised population, which takes me back to my family, which could, of course, have been almost any family on our small ravaged island. It is strange to recognize oneself as one of ‘The Wild Geese’ of our history lessons, and stranger still for a youth to be heading to the shores of that land, even to the source of that aforementioned ravishment. Then on top of that there was the problem that I had this odd idea that I wanted to be an artist, an unacceptable compunction in a struggling working-class family.
I remember my mother telling me to say goodbye to my father. “He is in the bedroom, crying, I have never seen him so upset”, her voice breaking. This still hits hard. I knew there was, at that point, no explanation I could give. I couldn’t tell anyone about the abuse, I couldn’t explain that home, or even family, was the most unsafe place for me, and that it had been so for as long as I could remember. It was probably around 7:30, early evening, but somewhat dark. My father had drawn the curtains and removed the light bulb and was sitting in the dark. I couldn’t really see him.
I said that I was going and that I wanted to say goodbye. He just answered "goodbye". That evening, with that one word, I felt my father being ‘present’ for the first time I can remember; it was also at that exact same moment that I chose to make myself ‘absent’.
I kissed him on the head and left.
Rack: Ruin, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard you tell this exact part of your history. I can’t really articulate how deeply affecting and powerful it is. Keep going.
Ruin: Thank you Rack. I don't think I ever told you about this. If you see any glaring mistakes, spelling or whatever, could you point them out? I don't mean make it your job or anything, just if anything hits you or anything is not clear. I tend to write in one sitting, in the mornings mostly, and put it up, and you know how difficult it can sometimes be to see your own mistakes, you just read right over them.
09: 10, 11/11/2022
Ruin is pulling me back to now. But that’s where so much confusion begins really, that handy rounding off of that ‘story’ is not true. The details in themselves are true, at some point I left with that fabled 200 punt, but which ‘leaving’ it was, I am not sure. I think I do know, and figure it must have been the last of the four. There is more there, in that story, which is not being told, the awkward reality of there being four separate ‘leavings’, and the not remembering exactly where this ‘light bulb’ incident fits. Ruin thought of them as all being from that same leaving, and they were, but there were 4 distinct phases, perhaps spaced over a year, with Ruin managing each time to further sever the links with his family. This ‘father’ reaction was, perhaps, the most brutal, the one that impressed itself most indelibly, but it was only one of a plethora of sunderings.
Ruin wants to give them headings. I guess that might help.
These are:
1. The National College of Art and Design, Dublin
2. ‘The Children of God’
3. Bergerac, Saint-Émilion, and Liverpool College of Art
4. Permanent Exile: London, New York, and eventually Amsterdam
Perhaps Ruin is not as skittish as I thought he was.
1. The National College of Art and Design.
Damage Inspection (via WhatsApp) (Photo)
Rack: It makes me wonder where it all started, that damage, I mean.
Ruin: I am inclined to think in the womb.
Rack: In vitro
Rack: Hah! Snap. (Our messages crossed).
Ruin: Yes, endocrine disruptors, alcohol, smoking, PFAS, whatevs, so many possible interloping would-be ‘drivers’, those divinities.
Rack: My parents were bonkers. And innocents.
Ruin: Abused, neglected, parents, mine too. That's what I am trying to write about, that 'no blame'. It’s difficult to get there, a life’s work, even.
Rack: Yes. Generational. So glad I never bred.
Ruin: You recognize yourself as part of a history of 400 years of brutalisation, poverty, ignorance, and religion. So am I, relative to reproducing, I am also glad to be an end of that line, a severed continuity. But in the meantime, you do have to end up picking yourself up, and starting all over again, battle wounds incorporated. I find that the keeping of a record can be a creative response and a valuable tool for continuing, for the preservation of a type of ‘Hope’.
I think it's a wonder that we try to do that, and the begrudgers can feck (insert another vowel according to degree of concurrence) themselves
Are you still away, still housesitting?
Rack: Yes. I went into the city for a big money dog and came back last night, a dog-walking expedition. I can’t say those three things about my upbringing. There was often scarcity but not poverty. There was plenty of books. And the wrong/other religion.
Ruin: there were two books in our house, actually one of them was in the car. I suspect that was my father's wank material.
Ruin: That book was 'In Praise of Older Women'.
Rack: I was blessed in that regard, book-wise, I mean.
Ruin: how long will you stay there? The other book, my sister and mother burnt it in front of me, was 'A Stone for Danny Fisher'.
Rack: Why did they burn the second book? We leave Wednesday for a friend's 70th in Vermont. Then back to the city. I could see moving up here. Finally.
Ruin: it was porn apparently. My sister caught me reading it and told my mother. 'The Carpetbaggers', also by Harold Robbins, had just been banned in Ireland, and decried from the pulpit. It was filth, according to Monseigneur O’Regan, so my mother tore it up in front of me as my sister gloated.
Rack: Lordy!!!!
Ruin: I had no idea where it came from, the book, it was just there, and I started to read it. I was desperate to read anything. When I asked my mother to sign for me to get a library card, she refused.
Rack: My father hid ‘Casino Royale’ from me. I suppose books were a threat.
Ruin: My father would disappear into the car every now and then, in the driveway.
Rack: The wank-mobile.
Ruin: No, it wasn’t the threat thing, she was afraid I would damage them, and she would have to pay for them.
Rack: Aaah
Ruin: Eventually, I managed to join, and brought home Camus and Sartre. I have no idea how I chanced upon the existential section in Clondalkin Public Library, there must have been some homing instinct. That was how I started reading.
Rack: Amazing. That urge to learn and expand. Sui generis. My Dad was like that. Before he got mental.
Ruin: 'A Happy Death', 'The Plague', 'The Myth of Sisyphus', 'The Rebel', ‘The Roads to Freedom’, she was right to worry. I remember the titles scared her, she knew she had made a mistake. I think she thought of it like some awful virus. It certainly does drive you mad and gives you ideas above your station. My head was turned through 360 degrees, thankfully.
Rack: Blessed virus.
Ruin: and madness ensued. Exit the Blessed Virgin (BVM), and this Blessed Virus replaced her in one fell swoop, and before we knew it this sacred whore was wanting to go to Art School, where I even saw your blessed mother, often.
Rack: I suppose. I am grappling with my father’s failure. It has seeped into me.
Ruin: Yes, I suspect a lot of it is daddy stuff. I recognize it in you, it being the same as with me.
Rack: Yes. She broke the picket and took their jobs, the blessed mother.
Ruin: Yes, it’s so strange that I knew your mother, almost 16 years before I met you in New York. It was during that famous 'National College of Art and Design' rebellion, the stuff of a wannabe rebel's dreams, I remember it well, and your mother as the 'scab' strike-breaker. I was locked in the building all night with the other communards, in the life-drawing studio, with the janitors outside ringing bells, every half-hour, to keep us awake. We thought we were on the barricades, ‘petites Parisiennes’, radicals like the 1968 Paris students, fighting for justice, pissing into a communal bucket. It was all wonderfully delusional.
Rack: Glorious! Being alone with them, my parents, was intense.
Ruin: It must have been, that electro-shock da, those burnt temples, and your mother, but as you said, school saved you.
Rack: Yes, it did. Just being away from them. My whole life was an escape. Now I miss them sometimes. They were suffocating and neglectful.
Ruin: I have stopped running, eventually you have to. I see you as there too. That was a terrible combination to have endured.
Ruin: My mother was needy; my father was absent (mostly in a bottle hidden in the toilet cistern). I would love you to tell your story.
Rack: You’re going to. Xox
Ruin: But you are telling it here too. I would like it to slow drip itself towards a type of deluge. Everything I write will eventually generate from what we write back and forth to each other. Please don't stop feeding me. Just ignore that 'don't feed the savage beast' sign. I do. I still haven't arrived in London in the writing, I am just making it to Liverpool, but you are already hugely there, even some 16 years before we met.
The struggle to get to NCAD was enough of a challenge in itself, it represented the first of these ‘leavings’. My parents opposed the idea every step of the way, it was unthinkable in their mindset, their world-view, which might have encompassed three square miles. Besides the hurdle of my parents there was that three-day exam, that sitting and making art in a controlled situation, as unthinkable as that was. There were 1,500 applicants, whittled down to 1,000 allowed to sit that ‘ordeal’. I loved that ordeal; it represented the possibility of unimaginable freedom. Eventually 30 students would be accepted. My parents ‘allowed’ me to do the exam, thinking I would fail and get it out of my system. I imagine the mater implored the Virgin to help me in the overcoming of what she presumed would be my first ‘failure’.
I was one of the fledgling-30 that cheeped, chicken-scratching, through.
I was suddenly ushered towards previously unimaginable possibilities. Instantaneously, there was an unknown city there. Dublin was opening up, Kildare Street, Molesworth Street, Joyce’s pub (Davy Byrne’s), The National Library, a building shared by the Art College, where Joyce had sat on the same entrance steps, a side of that conurbation I had no awareness of at all. I was enthralled and mesmerised. I had never imagined such splendour, or even the notion of this being an integral part of one’s birthright.
Ruin’s parents were appalled.
07:32, 12/11/2022
Some descriptions would be teasingly brief, now there’s a first. He recognised himself struggling with ‘Graphomania’, with that added soupçon of schizophrenia, hello Rock and Ruin. Rack was an entity in herself, a full living being, an immortal even, the other two were chimeras, stating the obvious (something he never held back from). Okay, so you don’t have to tell everything, I get it. I mean ‘The Children of God’, where do I start with that?
2. 'The Children of God'.
Jay: Ruin the Spurs supporter! It makes as much sense. It’s impossible to imagine. But you say you’ve been a born-again Christian could be taken as proof that miracles do happen.
Ruin: Spurs with an arse-less set of chaps, more likely, at an orgy perhaps. Some stones were only turned once, and this detour into alternative Christianity was, thankfully, short. But it tore me out of my country of origin in one short, sharp, shock.
Yes, I ‘fire and brimstoned’ for three months, when I was negotiating an escape, ensuring free food and all the kumbaya I could swallow. Yes, at that point, anything and everything was possible
Jay: And you achieved your escape?
Ruin: Yes, I moved in with the religious commune in Dublin first, and then went to live in Covent Garden with them, running away to that pagan place the other side of the Irish sea, living in a central London squat with a dipshit crazy religious cult, saving the heathen 'Sassenachs', whilst negotiating communal meals and lots of Holy Roller singing, followed by that mandatory 10-hours-a-day on the streets finding converts, and collecting money for our ‘charity’.
The market was still there. It was our local ‘Saviour/Father gifted’ cornucopia of fruit and veg, which we duly begged at every day, following the “seek and ye shall find” (KJV) rule.
Jay: I remember the market just …
Ruin: They fed us young 'Christians', not to the lions thankfully, as we bothered God with our chanting, ‘King Jamesing’ at them until they handed over some bruised apples or whatever. I even found myself in the back of a taxi trying to convert Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens, her then husband. She looked aghast, as only she could, and still can. They were coming out of some Shaftsbury Avenue theatre, where they were performing together in ‘Private Lives’ (Noel Coward). They stepped into a taxi, I simply stepped in after them. This, of course, makes me laugh now, remembering. I am sure, in my 18-year-old enthusiasm, I could have saved her, given the time. My cheek, and apparent stupidity, appears to have known no bounds. She was gracious and showed me the, still open, door. I remember thinking we looked alike, both red-haired and freckled. In my delusion I imagined that I reminded her of her son.
Delusion is sometimes a grand thing.
You see, there’s the reason I can’t pinpoint exactly that rupture where my father sat crying in the dark, as I said goodbye. There were stuttered goodbyes, delusionally nourished, even. I have no idea what the source of that lifelong ‘delusion habit ‘might be. Sometimes I wonder if it is that hippocampus shrinkage idea, painstakingly researched by Professor Robert Sapolsky in his books about abuse and its effects on the developing brain. I guess we will never really know, or at least not yet, not in our lifetime, but the idea does excite me, that notion of the brain compensating for that important part’s contraction, that shriveled nugget, and what ‘drivers’ that redeeming might generate to make moving forward possible.
I apparently left 4 times before it became final, and they are all somewhat squeezeboxed into just one ‘leaving’ in my ramshackle forgetfulness. You can see that my poor parents had a lot to deal with as I pulled away from them. But there was no choice really, a way had to be found, the abuse was still all around me there. I could smell it everywhere in the house, and in that damp bedroom, though James had slithered off. I was always afraid that I would scream it out, and in doing so, I would break their hearts completely.
Of course, London threw Dublin into sharp relief, as Dublin had done the same to Clondalkin. I loved that pagan place by the time I unshackled myself from the happy clappers, the followers of ‘Moses David’, and hitch-hiked back to Ireland, begging enough on the route to pay for the ferry. I knew I was a pagan too, and that I would be back.
I temporarily ‘Prodigal son’d’ myself back into their ‘normality’, back to that same room, that same mattress, those same fetid memories, knowing I couldn’t last there very long at all. I knew I would cuckoo, or wild goose, out of there again, but something aspiring towards a plan, a way forward, would have to be negotiated first. Unfortunately, I never quite managed to be a cold-blooded strategist, there would never really be a plan, but more like a hapless flapping forward towards, eventually, leaving forever.
Ruin knew, in his heart of hearts, that he would never have had the opportunity to offer salvation, and bruised fruits and vegetables, to Maggie Smith in a taxi, if he hadn't left Clondalkin, Dublin, and Ireland.
Ruin's path was set, apparently, and this particular 'driver', whatever it might be, was becoming impatient.
09:50, 13/11/2025
Seven: A ravaged angel.
Ruin: Weren't we all ravaged somewhat by life, Mister Seven, to a lesser or greater extent? I suspect that might be the job of this 'interval', this “three score and ten”, that ravishing. Trying to describe that is turning into quite a job. I am writing a lot off-line now too, stuff I don't put up. This can be a struggle, doing it without immediate gratification, trusting that it will hold together 'unseen'. I could slap myself around for being so insecure, but then that's what the whole story is about anyway, that slapping oneself around and blaming life.
I remember making 'The Ikons', just doing them, and nobody seeing them at all, except the sitters. They were made 'on trust', with no other motivation for making them other than the necessity, a compunction. There was no thought of showing them, making them was what mattered. They cost blood, sweat, and tears to make, maintaining a large studio in Manhattan, whilst doing faux interior finishes to generate the money to support them. Remembering I could do that for four years reminds me that I can do this for four years, just writing for its own sake. It's reassuring to remember.
Okay, I recognise a certain type of madness, a recording mania, a laying down of a trail. It has become an essential driver, it would appear, a reason to be, even. I think that I recognise it in you too.
Just saying, as they say.
I wonder how much of this has to do with our age and ‘infirmity’, both facing mortality in quite an immediate way. I fantasise about recording it all relentlessly, which is, perhaps, a way of attempting to avoid the reality of the process, that doing of it with the once remove of observing it. I guess that’s what artists do though, it’s a description of that ‘driver’.
It might take a cold eye, mimicking nature’s cold overview, objectivity and all that stuff they encouraged us towards in Art School.
Perhaps they were on to something after all.
08:11. 14/11/2022
Rack: Saw a great movie in Irish last night. (Stephanie takes me to all her Academy Member screenings, free and with booze and horses duffers afterwards.) “The Quiet Girl” adapted from the novella by Clare Keegan. You can still read the short story she grew the novella from here.
Ruin: I downloaded it a few weeks ago, but haven't watched it yet. It's the sort of film I have to ease into watching with Ben. If it doesn't have aliens, Dragons , or Brad Pitt he tuts a lot.
I have done it. All photos with ‘writing’ attached are all private now on Flickr. There will be no more playing to an audience, currying favour, looking out for reactions. This needed doing for going into a final phase, a facing ghosts down. It feels both right and somewhat scary, how it really has to be if this is to get written and, perhaps more to the point, edited.
Begin again: Brevity.
I love these small crises, those ‘stop you in your tracks’ moments, and then the searching for, and finding of, a solution that makes it possible to move forward. These could be described as a Clare Keegan moment (stunning brevity), an Annie Ernaux moment (Sadean honesty), David Shields (brilliant Jewish intellectual word and idea play), Michael Winkler (dogged brilliance), Diane Seuss (poetic disarming), John Mc Gahern (personal shared history, longing), Samuel R. Delany (Homo filth, humour, universal acceptance and semiotics), and that’s even before looking at the Gods already set in that pantheon, the Joyce and Dostoyevsky captured by Kevin Birmingham (the miraculous researcher with a brilliance for making connections), and all the rest.
This could make anybody grind to a halt, and, of course, it does exactly that to me too. Anyway, it re-starts every morning, the scab-picking and the itch scratching. I will be trying for more ‘brevity’, looking at the masters/mistresses of the same to see what rubs off.
Here’s looking at you, kiddo.
Anyway, I have stopped now for a breather, to consider the next move.
08:30. 15/11/2022
Rack: I wouldn’t worry too much about brevity. Storm on. An editor can carve out brevity later. If needed.
Ruin: Don't worry, I'll just copy that Claire What's'ername until I get it right. I just started ordering all her books. You know what a plagiarist knacker I am.
just ordered 'Small Things Like These', 7.09 Euros, including sending, first edition hardback (new). How do these authors make a living? Film rights, I guess.
Rack: How long do you write for each day? Do you have a routine?
Ruin: Every morning, 7 days a week for two to three hours
Rack: 🙌
Ruin: I know. Crazy
Rack: Not crazy.
Ruin: Busily printing out 8 or 9 of Joyce’s filthiest letters to Nora
Joyce:
My sweet naughty girl,
I got your hot letter tonight and have been trying to picture you frigging your cunt in the closet. How do you do it? Do you stand against the wall with your hand tickling up under your clothes or do you squat down on the hole with your skirts up and your hand hard at work in through the slit of your drawers? Does it give you the horn now to shit? I wonder how you can do it. Do you come in the act of shitting or do you frig yourself off first and then shit? It must be a fearfully lecherous thing to see a girl with her clothes up frigging furiously at her cunt, to see her pretty white drawers pulled open behind and her bum sticking out and a fat brown thing stuck half-way out of her hole. You say you will shit your drawers, dear, and let me fuck you then. I would like to hear you shit them, dear, first and then fuck you. Some night when we are somewhere in the dark and talking dirty and you feel your shite ready to fall put your arms around my neck in shame and shit it down softly. the sound will madden me and when I pull up your dress
No use continuing! You can guess why!
Jim
Ruin: Blimey!
Rack: Blimey indeed!
Ruin: Have you read them?
Ruin: If not I will send them to you, if you want them.
Rack: Only here and there. Ingress/Egress. Do.
Ruin: Ok. They’re better than dick pix
Joyce:
To NORA
2 December 1909: 44 Fontenoy Street, Dublin.
My darling,
I ought to begin by begging your pardon, perhaps, for the extraordinary letter I wrote you last night. While I was writing it your letter was lying in front of me and my eyes were fixed, as they are even now, on a certain word of it. There is something obscene and lecherous in the very look of the letters. The sound of it too is like the act itself, brief, brutal, irresistible and devilish.
Darling, do not be offended at what I wrote. You thank me for the beautiful name I gave you. Yes, dear, it is a nice name ‘My beautiful wild flower of the hedges! My dark- blue, rain-drenched flower!’. You see I am a little of the poet still. I am giving you a lovely book for a present too: and it is a poet’s present for the woman he loves. But, side by side and inside this spiritual love I have for you there is also a wild beast-like craving for every inch of your body, for every secret and shameful part of it, for every odour and act of it. My love for you allows me to pray to the spirit of eternal beauty and tenderness mirrored in your eyes or to fling you down under me on that soft belly of yours and fuck you up be- hind, like a hog riding a sow, glorying in the open shame of your upturned dress and white girlish drawers and in the confusion of your flushed cheeks and tangled hair. It allows me to burst into tears of pity and love at some slight word, to tremble with love for you at the sounding of some chord or cadence of music or to lie heads and tails with you feeling your fingers fondling and tickling my ballocks or stuck up in me behind and your hot lips suck- ing off my cock while my head is wedged in between your fat thighs, my hands clutching the round cushions of your bum and my tongue licking ravenously up your rank red cunt. I have taught you almost to swoon at the hearing of my voice singing or murmuring to your soul the passion and sorrow and mystery of life and at the same time have taught you to make filthy signs to me with your lips and tongue, to provoke me by obscene touches and noises, and even to do in my presence the most shameful and filthy act of the body. You remember the day you pulled up your clothes and let me lie under you looking up at you as you did it? Then you were ashamed even to meet my eyes.
You are mine, darling, mine! I love you. All I have written above is only a moment or two of brutal madness. The last drop of seed has hardly been squirted up your cunt be- fore it is over and my true love for you, the love of my verses, the love of my eyes for your strange luring eyes, comes blowing over my soul like a wind of spices. My prick is still hot and stiff and quivering from the last brutal drive it has given you when a faint hymn is heard rising in tender pitiful worship of you from the dim cloisters of my heart. I am so glad I am now in sight of Miramar. The only thing I hope is that I haven’t brought on that cursed thing again by what I did. Pray for me, dearest.
Addio, addio, addio, addio!
JIM
Rack: Makes me miss all that! Thanks for sending. It’s still delicious to read, even if one is off the team and in the bleachers.
Ruin: Strangely I don’t miss it at all, though I do love reading about it, especially when it is unadorned, un-self-conscious, dripping and tumescent, like James here, wonderfully private. These are the things I like to read, like Annie, at 82 writing about anal sex, gushingly remembering, though she does seem gallic in comparison to our thinking tinker riddled with spirochetes. He would be, is, our patron saint. Yep, I dare speak for you too. I am looking forward to Claire Keegan’s brevity, she arrives today, but I can already tell from her photograph that she is not a dripper, well not overflowingly so anyway. Joyce, on the other hand, in photos, always looks like he is proof that wanking can make you blind, and apparently did in his case. I do love a gusher, old faithful King Dong, turning every female he touches into a Vesuvius of fluids, hello Molly, hello Nora. Yes, I remember those eruptions, fondly even, here’s one in the eye and all that palaver. I remember in more innocent days, hearing and believing, that you could catch the lurgy if you got some holy jism in your eyes. It was great to work through the paranoia to the ‘real thing’. Close your eyes, open your mouth, and let the priest put his host on your tongue, don’t bite, just let it dissolve. Dissolve would be a fine thing. I remember worrying that if I bit it, I would sever the sacred body. Watch your teeth, cover them with your lips, nobody comes twice to a scratcher. Swallow it whole, like a good boy.
No wonder we were confused, but you missed all that in your enclave. But boy, was I confused. Though maybe I underestimate you there, it was in the soil, the potatoes and the milk, and that awful tea, so maybe you were equally confused. You will have to put me right there. Either way, dearest, we both got the job done, stymied ourselves into concentrating on mortality prematurely. I am perverse enough to think that we did ourselves a favour.
I know, a strange idea.
There's more than one team, thankfully.
For example, re. how much I write, 2,200 words this morning, though it is partially interwoven with our correspondence. I usually tease out between 1,000 and 3,000 words every day. You are huge in it already, though I haven't met you yet. I am currently working out the leaving, of Clondalkin that is, the sloughing off.
I remember going to confession, more or less, every Saturday. Beginning with the “Bless me father, for I have sinned, it has been one week since my last confession”. Yes, I was a serial supplicant, as regular as a good dump. You could usually spin out the “I was disobedient to my parents”, “I told lies”, whatever, and get away with “Three hail Marys” and “A Glory be to the Father” and you were fixed up for another week. The priest would usually ask “any impure thoughts?”, tactfully fishing, but I could usually deny any such trespass.
But then confession changed.
I was fourteen. It was nerve racking. I would begin with the usual, hoping I would bore him to sleep before getting to the crunch. Then I would slip in “I had impure thoughts”. I had his full attention. “This is a grave sin, child, did these thoughts lead to actions?” became the new, weekly, interrogation. “Yes father”, “Alone or with someone else?”, continued the now hyper alert inquisitor. “With someone else, father”.
I quietly turned into Satan. “This is a grievous sin, child, your soul is in mortal danger”. Blimey, I am fucked now, I thought to myself. “How often does this happen? Monseigneur O’ Regan continued. “Every night”, I Beelzebubbed.
“You must avoid these occasions of sin, child”, there it was in a nutshell (is there a manual one wonders?), advice doled out to a child being abused. “Who was the perpetrator?”, (my uncle), was never asked. “Who put the abuser in your bed?” (my mother) also never asked. From that point on the penance was increased, decades of the Rosary to be said in the church, before leaving, so that everybody in the community could see that you were a fallen boy of fourteen, stuck in the pews for extended periods attempting to atone for your grievous sins, utterly lost to perdition on a weekly basis.
Though I didn’t realise it then, the great thing about becoming Beelzebub in one fell swoop like that, is that there is no going back.
Cursed for all eternity is not at all as bad as they make it out to be. Ask James (Joyce, that is, and not my aberrant uncle).
What was happening up on the Hill of Howth then, in 1968? Fairies down the end of the garden, I would guess.
I, apparently, was taking one for the team. That's our team, of course.
Keegan is writing about the Magdalene Laundries, my sister is writing to me about new scandals in Dublin, around abuse in the posh ‘Blackrock College’. The Jesuits are paying out huge sums in compensation for abuse too. Two of my mother’s other brothers, both priests, have been defrocked for kiddy-fiddling, one being in hiding in Ireland, keeping ahead of the FBI.
There is a Beelzebub!
I know which side of my bread is Extra-Virgin olive-oiled.
07:55, 16/11/2022
Rack: Life on the Hill of Howth was a colorized post card by comparison. But it was there, by osmosis. And I was definitely being fiddled with, in a much much milder and very sporadic way than you, but it was as if the whole country thought children were there to abuse. Public transport was a nightmare for a young girl. I suppose boarding school was a relative safe haven in some regards. Different forms of abuse, but if you had to choose. Which children don’t get to do. It’s fucking nuts. When I think of my friends kids, of Foggy’s grandkids, they are so saved from such horrors. Thankfully. They actually, in spite of social media and the odd accelerated world they’re growing up in, stay children a long time.
Ruin: HIV compresses time. I am in post-post-pubescence, and it’s a mirror image of pre-pubescence. There is a return to ‘innocence’, and in a normal world there would be 14 years left, but as I said, our lurgy compresses time. Anyway, the world is full of wonder, and I intend to enjoy it this time, as I head towards dribbling, and losing the power of language, heading towards Mama, and Dada. I love the crazy circularity of it all. This time there will be no interference, no interlopers, and no boundaries, a childlike trusting, even. I intend to helicopter parent myself, even. That ‘even’ is borrowed from the Dada of them all, Marcel Duchamp. The idea would be to find the ‘infrathined’ infinity sequestered within however long those 14 years turn out to be.
By the way, I see your urgency too. It's time to stop beating yourself up, and just write, if that is what you want to do. I think it is, and I think you are already doing it (witness above), just perhaps not acknowledging yourself yet.
I like the young girl on the tram.
There will be more about her as I wake up. These are immediate responses.
Ben couldn't watch 'The Quiet Girl', so we watched 'Emily' instead, the new film about Emily Bronte, talking about a sense of urgency. I will have to make time to watch the other one myself.
I used to have this fantasy, that as I grew older, I would become an old man in a 'bejaardentehuis', a Dutch old-age pensioner's home, where I would set up a gloryhole to help all the other old geezers out, a form of social work, care in the community, or whatever. There are even all gay retirement homes, but I don’t like to discriminate. Either way, I have found in my vast, not quite double-blind life-long research, that straight men are often in as much need of succour as my brethren, us much-beloved shirt-lifters, are, especially when they acquire a certain seniority.
But you know what? They can help themselves out. I am going to enjoy being a 'child', free of all those incursions, obligations and whatnot.
This is the one around the corner, the bejaardentehuis (see Photo). I suspect that I would be very busy considering the size of the building, but what with a Russian bomb hitting Poland yesterday, it all might be a moot point anyway. Either way, writing continues.
Yes, to that atrocious “children were there to abuse”, of yours. Of course, it’s a by-product of repression. That’s obvious enough in the mountain of cases constantly playing forward relative to religious orders and abuse, but I think it must have been in almost every family too, especially those that embraced extended family members. Religion apparently does that, and then spends a massive amount of resources concealing the aftermath. And there we were, innocents thrown into that mix, and our job was not to upset the applecart. I will always be thankful to Uncle James for making me aware that it was all a crock-o-shit.
The next part of the ‘story’ tells of the third part of my leaving, with Maeve, by any other name. We went to Bergerac, east of Bordeaux, together, and lived rough. The story includes her wandering off alone “to have some fun”, as she put it, and being raped twice. After returning to Dublin together, her giving birth (not as a result of those rapes), going to England to have the child (a boy), and then when the child was six months old stabbing him multiple times in the chest in an effort to kill him. As it turned out, we were neighbours in London, she was housed in Holloway (woman’s prison) around the corner from me, for thirty years, ‘At Her Majesty’s Pleasure’. I only discovered she had been there after she was released. I had always wondered where she was. I wasn’t there for all those thirty years, I was careening back and forth between London and New York, enjoying a type of freedom. Her sentence ‘At Her Majesty’s Pleasure’ meant that there was no time frame, indeterminate, she was considered mad and dangerous, so she remained there for thirty years. It was only when I was artist in residence at IMMA that I enquired and discovered we had been neighbours in London. She was then free, but had disappeared, nobody knew where she was.
The last leaving, the fourth and final one, was going to Liverpool, being joined by Emer (called Sorcha in the writing), so she could have her baby and give it up for adoption, having been deserted by the father, and thus cheating the Magdalene Laundry of a slave.
So yes, I saw it all in its many variations, and hated it with a passion. Hopefully this is passing.
If I have vestiges of fury still, and I do, they are directed towards that body that ‘Holy Mother Church’, but I do realise that I have to let that go too, but not before I describe it and the consequences of its vicelike grip. This is probably the source of those 2,000 words, plus, a day.
You described moments before, those public transport rides fit in with them, but the one that stands out for me is that one in that ‘family hotel’, that dirty old man, and you, and your natural curiosity, and his hopeless, and sad, repugnance, his desperation. Don’t get me wrong, I see the ‘attraction’ there from your point, but then so did he, and he exploited it.
I told my siblings that I didn’t want to know about their children, congratulations on having them and all that, but they were of no interest to me at all. I said I would get to know, and love them, when they turned thirty. They, of course, thought I was crazy. But this is exactly what happened. I got to know them when they had matured. Three of them are now Lesbian or Gay.
Look mum, no hands! There was no need for the ‘laying on of hands’ at all. I was never afraid I would, but just in case, I exorcised family. It’s the ‘quarantine’ thing, it still holds. It seems to be always the best way forward towards that end.
The thing is that these stories just tell themselves when I allow them too. I have struggled over how to begin the Maeve story, how to get that down, but the best thing is just to tell you. I could go into details, in the same way as I could go into details of what happened on that mattress with my uncle, but that would be, perhaps, gratuitous. I suspect that this is how manuscripts evolve that “just tell the story”.
08:03, 17/11/2022
Rack: I’m not sure I ever knew the full horror of the Maeve story, but I must have. Fuck!! I think you do have to go into details. All of them. It’s not gratuitous to my mind. I think that storytelling is a form of generosity. Not “over sharing” but an allowing of the other to travel along beside you. Even if it’s horror. It’s the most deeply human thing and I think the details are part of the currency. It’s not necessarily style or verbiage or plot that makes me love a story, it’s the details. The verisimilitude. That’s why god and the Devil are said to be in the details.
I want to know everything about how you and Maeve lived rough. Like a Beckett play but with the added urgency of unwanted reproduction.
It’s just an opinion, but I think you cheat yourself and us, the reader, if you sacrifice the details. It’s the marrow. And other clichés. It’s all in how you convey them. No coinkydink that Clare Keegan is cluttering up your desk. There’s your guide. I love you.
Ruin: We lived in a deserted school yard, there was one water faucet, and a shed, where we sometimes slept.
Rack: You see. I’m already hooked. Tell me about the inside of the shed.
The shed was, I guess, a small repair shop for broken bicycles or whatever. I seem to remember you could just raise a latch, on the door, and open it. But this was 50 years ago, so the details are fuzzy. I do remember one night and there being the most ferocious thunderstorm we had ever experienced, not at all like the type we are used to in Dublin. The shed shook and we clung to each other, laughing, scared out of our wits. The rain was, of course, torrential too. We adapted somewhat elementally, huddled to avoid some water coming under the door. The laughter was both hysterical and beyond nervous, the noise of the thunder was deafening and close. We imagined, sharing the possibility, of them finding us, when the school reopened, a charred conjoined corpse, crisped, fused into a two headed roast.
Rack: How did you stay warm? What did you eat?
Ruin: We stole, well she did, she was wilder than me, roast chickens down the leg of her ludicrously wide clown-trousers, tied with a piece of string. She was the scourge of a local supermarket. We also pilfered corn from the fields, and grapes and apples. She stole them, the chickens, from the frozen department, and they melted down her leg, as she awkwardly sidled out, paying for a stick of gum.
Rack: Where did you poop? The women always steal.
it was mid-summer. It was late July, I think, the children and teachers were gone for the summer. It was the hottest weather I had ever suffered. I don’t do well in heat.
We pooped in the fields, the corn fields, and buried it.
Rack: I did it too, stole. How did you wipe your arses?
Ruin: With anything that came to hand. Though we also bought toilet rolls as Maeve hobbled off with another frozen bird sticking to her thigh. We buried that too, the loo paper, with the offending matter a pair of right little savages, but strangely ahead of our time environmentally speaking, giving it all back as fertiliser. William Golding would have loved us. There was that faucet too. It was basically a pipe on a stick, raised to hip height, and we could sit under it when it got impossibly hot. We could clean up under that, and we were never short of water. Maeve would sit naked under it for hours. I was shyer. I sometimes sat there in my underpants. The school was on the edge of a small town, more a village really, adjoined to Bergerac, home of Rostand’s Cyrano, so no one ever seemed to go by.
This idyll lasted, perhaps, a month, before we were noticed. But by that point Maeve was becoming agitated. Basically, she wanted to get fucked. She told me that she wanted to head off on her own.
Rack: How did that make you feel?
Ruin: We met up, accidentally, 3 weeks later, both hitching out of Paris, a total coincidence.
Rack: It’s a brilliant story.
Ruin: She had been raped twice during those 3 weeks. She liked rough men. She particularly liked swarthy men, manual labourers, dockers, truck drivers, that cliché, the diagrammatical opposite of her respectable professional parents, both esteemed doctors, and me.
As to how she made me feel, I sort of longed to try to be alone too. I had never been alone before, having over-shared a bedroom, and cramped living space for most of my previous life, and then running away with those happy-clapping Christians and living communally. I had always been what could be called a ‘good boy’. I had had my first drink, half a glass of shandy, on my eighteenth birthday, though I had worked in bars, as a lounge boy, since I was thirteen. Other than the abuse, I was also a virgin. I know, that makes me laugh too, considering my later shenanigans. It’s true what they say about ‘Convent girls’, I was one. I was an abusive-mammy’s boy. Finding myself interlocked with malevolent Maeve was an eye opener.
She was crazy, crazier than me, an understatement, and difficult to be with though I loved her at the same time. We were friends, nothing more. I, of course, sensed that she had been abused too, and she sensed that in me, so our relationship was respectful of each other’s woundedness. At some point I shared the story of the abuse, some drunken point possibly, she was the first person I told. She told me of her abuse too, but more as a coming-of-age thing, and although she was very young, she didn’t see it as abuse, she claimed to have wanted it, to have been the perpetrator, even. I have seen this many times since, where the ‘victim’ sees themselves as the instigator, allowing the real perpetrator off scot-free, having taken advantage of that ‘get them when they are curious’ phase. I probably said as much to her then, but I more than likely still didn’t have the words to get it across. But then, we were children in that schoolyard in Bergerac, East of Bordeaux.
But abuse was probably so endemic, on our little emerald nugget, that we didn’t even recognise it as it was happening. I see that in you too. I will point out where, though you know already, as we go along. Heck, I see you pointing it out yourself.
Rack: Wow! I remember things happening like that to me back then, I mean that re-meeting, accidentally, outside Paris with Maeve. As if there were fewer people in the world. As if some god was working harder, pre-cell phone. Coincidences I mean.
Ruin: when we were initially leaving, we arranged to meet in Dublin, under the clock on the side of O'Connell bridge. I was there at 6, our meeting time, she arrived around 10pm
I waited the whole time. She was always late, but I knew she would come. I probably would have waited all night. She eventually breezed up, proffering no excuse, and I asked for none. We laughed though, “Over three hours, that’s a new record”. Of course, we had missed the boat to Liverpool, our first port of call, and slept on the floor in the ferry terminal that night, getting the first boat the next day.
Rack: Well, that’s a whole bag of cats. Liking rough sex and the fear of rape. Bit of that with me.
Ruin: Yes, Rack, you, me, Annie (Ernaux) and Maeve, not to mention Jim and Nora Barnacle. We are in glorious company.
Anyway, later she tried to stab the baby through the heart, three or four times. I know, I know, a non sequitur, I will somehow get there. But I wasn’t there, so I can’t describe it. I can just describe the madness that might have led up to it.
Rack: It’s brilliant. You must be patient with it. Wring it out of you.
Rack: FUCK
Ruin: It was post-partum at its worst, well before this was really recognised, and she was crazy too. She was my wild and irreparably damaged Maeve. She was in the thrall of some ferocious ‘drivers’.
Rack: How did you know her?
Ruin: We met at the National College of Art & Design. We sort of immediately clung to each other, a bit like you and me. Her sculptures were like beautiful cries for help. I loved them; they were brave beyond words. They are now probably scrap-heaped. Anyway, I recognised her, and wanted to be her friend, also a bit like us two. In this I can be relentless.
Rack: Yup. Trauma bonds. Those big fat rubber bands.
Where was she from?
Ruin: the good side of town.
Rack: Hah! Of course. Where the real crazies live.
Ruin: I found an obituary of her father, he had been predeceased by her mother, another Maeve. You know how the usually give a list of the surviving family, a loving daughter etcetera, well our beloved daughter, Maeve, is not there, she is expunged, eradicated, swathed somewhere there in family shame, unseeable. She may have pre-deceased both of them too.
She was a Dublin 4 girl, not as posh as you, on your Hill of Howth.
Rack: Dublin 4 has a super posh aspect.
Ruin: She was posh, but utterly wild. So, there I was, the freckled Irish, working class, ‘virgin’, with someone who was everything the mammy had ever warned me about, having survived her, the mater’s, half-brother’s incursions on my impossible stuttering skinniness.
Maeve looked like a bit like a weirdly beautiful Gollum, an even more aberrational Sméagol. We were equally undernourished. She had very bad acne, and cropped her hair down to nearly nothing.
Rack: Do you think she suffered his “undivided attention”.
Ruin: Perhaps, perhaps not, who knows? I wouldn’t really want to speculate there, as to the beginnings of that hippocampus shrinkage, that point of abuse which generated this madness. If she is alive, I can’t find her, I hope she works it through. It can blight you forever.
We were always, in the schoolyard, making her homemade tampons, a strange memory.
Rack: I think my childhood Dr. fiddled with me. I remember him with his fingers up my arse.
Ruin: “I see that in you too. I will point out where, though you know already, as we go along.” That is so far outside the norm, and, of course, you know this. That it was part of the fabric is the knub of this ‘story’, these misrememberings.
Anyway, I will get through this Maeve story, part three of my leaving Ireland forever. I have started a re-write, I just gave you the bones, but I will use them, and this conversation, corrected, and whatever. I tell you what I hate in a ‘story’, that line “I am sitting here with tears in my eyes”. Annie Ernaux even used it, in ‘Getting Lost’. Well, I will tell you, I am not sitting here with tears in my eyes. Maeve was a noble savage beast, and I am proud that I drew her to me. She reminds me of us.
Rack: Yup. You’ve got to go there. Do you know if she’s alive?
Ruin: I don't know if she is (an iteration). I can’t find any reference to her anywhere. When I was at IMMA doing the residency, I found out about her prison sentence, and that she had just been released. Apparently, she had been seen in Dublin, but then she disappeared again.
Rack: Your penchant for posh suicidal women is fascinating.
Ruin: As is their penchant for me, apparently. I am so grateful for this.
Rack: Indeed. What do you think that’s about?
Ruin: I was a soft touch then, palpitatingly so, all wounds on show, but I always loved a victim, there a fellowship there.
Rack: Yes. You allowed me to feel free and loved by a man.
Ruin: It's how it should be, bender love, or post-bender, even, now that those drivers have sloped off with their dicks between their legs.
Rack: I always thought so. I miss it. All my gay men friends are dead or in Amsterdam.
Ruin: I re-wrote it already since I sent it to you, as was posting as writing, errors and all.
Rack: When I meet one now, a potential gay friend, I get unbearably excited.
Ruin: I don't get friends anymore, no contact, or little outside our front door. That search appears to be over. It’s just as well, I don't have the time. I have this to write.
Rack: Well, would love to read it, when you’re happy with it. I hope you don’t mind me demanding details.
Ruin: I am full of what I am doing, and no, I love all your interventions.
Rack: That’s wonderful. It’s very time consuming. But I’d die without it. Or would I?
Ruin I have been wondering how to work into it. I think you are doing it, and I suspect you might (die without it, or want to, at least).
Rack: I think dreams are a good insight into detail. They always have odd ones.
Ruin: Yes, it's why I start when I wake up, before anything, even if it’s just a few words to start, to enhance memories generated in sleeping.
Rack: Or get really depressed. Though lockdown introduced me to my introvert. Everyone says it’s the best time for it, those morning moments.
Ruin: Well now it's a newish habit.
Rack: Yup
Ruin: how is your diary going? I have a file called 'Dear Diary', like a big girl's blouse.
Rack: It’s so fascinating to see how a habit can be formed. Fairly easily. Good or bad. Writing every day or shooting heroin. Bless our neurotransmitters.
Ruin: I started it on 26/10/2022, at 09:16, the day after you sent me a photo of the covers of your Manhattan diaries, whilst reading Ernaux’s diary entries. Anyway, in a dozen days it's 65 pages
Rack: I’m going to force you to hang out with me before one of us dies.
Ruin: I would love that.
Rack: I keep a longer one too. In addition to the chicken scratch one. Sometimes I can even tolerate what I wrote.
Ruin: I don't care if I can tolerate it or not.
Rack: It’s getting better. Growing up at 60! Wooohooo!
Ruin: grow up and die, we appear to be achieving both.
Rack: You’re lucky. Fucking arty parents, TCD, and snotty writer friends. Ruined me.
Ruin: Toss ‘em all, those rule makers. I have nothing to compare it to, other than what I read, and although I love what I read, I always know that I don't want to write like that, whatever it is I am reading, no matter how much I love it. Joyce, whoever, I don't care, I don't want to write like that. I want to be as awful as I am. If I want to be a bit like him it is only that disease ravaged him that was utterly shameless, a bit like Mr. Maupassant. That is glorious, and human.
Rack: Hahah. That’s actually what I fear. I’m finally feeling happy in myself. What if I keel over? Anyway, my white blood count came back up and I have almost normal platelets. The most in 37 years. 🎈
Ruin: you are immortal, and if you are not, I will bloody well kill you. But so far, I have seen no evidence to suggest otherwise.
Rack: That’s good. I get too enamoured of other authors. No boundaries. You can’t write from the grave. There’s the rub. I think you have the benefit of another career in your rear-view mirror.
Ruin: Career, that's a joke, a total ‘failure’. Fail again, fail better as our other fellow countryman wrote.
Rack: What creative person isn’t? Succubi.
Ruin: Yes, vampire plagiarist cunts, to a man and women. But what a great thing to be, juicy and uncontrollably overflowing, gushing.
Rack: It was a career.
Ruin: we are, at least, in the museum, you and I, side by side in our National Collection, two exhibitionist reprobates. But it might be time to do this better.
Rack: Yup
Ruin: so, they, for the most part didn't get it, but I am not too proud to spell it out, literally, and I know that I can too.
Rack: No, people didn’t get it. I actually think it was too advanced. They might get it now. Maybe it will all have another outing when your book succeeds. The art I mean.
Ruin: who knows, I will be dead, so fuck all use it will do me, and most of the art hasn’t survived, although there are 17 or so pieces in my brother’s garage in Clondalkin. I would love these to join the others in IMMA.
Ruin: I was convinced you would have known Maeve Reynolds, somehow. Maybe her father had his finger up your ass.
Rack: I’m sure there’s 1.5 degrees of separation. My grandparents lived in Dublin 4 before they got really rich. No. that was Dr. Jizzup. (Name changed to protect the guilty).
He would take me out of the examination room where my mother would sit with me and down the hall.
Ruin: The relentless inherited shame of it all, anyway dearest, keep everything, as I said the external hard drive is yours if I peg it halfway there, it has your name on it. You can rape and pillage it as much as you want, even make it into what might pass as literature, turning me into the most hated villain in Christendom, if that is your leaning.
Sounds like outing time for the dreaded doctor Jizzup.
Rack: And then there’s the doctors who fondled me as an adult. My liver Dr., who saved my life. Used to shoot me up with Demerol for a procedure and have his way. Again, it felt pleasurable. He’s cute.
OK. Get on with it. You know I’m lazy.
For now this will be intertwined with the Maeve story, but it’s still ‘Rack and Ruin’, Maeve prefigured.
Rack: I like Maeve. Queen.
Ruin: Maeveen, the lyrical diminutive. My sad little acne riddled darling. I adored the little murderous swineherd. Oink! Pass that farrow, I do be famished.
Rack : Maeveen loveen obscene
But Rack, there’s even more, an inbuilt ‘surprise, something that assisted my permanent leaving, generated though that strange idyll with my Maeveen.
I will tell you about that next.
This is a first re-write, and all suggestions are appreciated.
I love you too.
Go to the Book with image in the Internet Archive
Title: United States Naval Medical Bulletin Vol. 15, Nos. 1-4, 1921
Creator: U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Publisher:
Sponsor:
Contributor:
Date: 1921
Language: eng
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Table of Contents</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PORTRAIT OF SURGEON GENERAL E. R. STITT, U. S. NAVY —Frontispiece</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">THE NAVAL HOSPITAL, MARE ISLAND, CALIF. :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operating room technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, and Bessie C.
Graham, Nurse Corps, U. S. N 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The urological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. B. Hepler, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The roentgenological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 30</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The laboratory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps. U. S. N 34</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Features of organization.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. C. White, Medical Corps, U. S. N 40</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General file and record system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. C. Allen, Medical Corps, U. S. N 4T</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested clinical chart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. C. Baker, Medical Corps, U. S. N 49</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The theater.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Chief Pharmacist T. C. Hart, Medical Corps, U. S. N 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Study of one hundred navy desertions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A H. Ehrenclou. Medical Corps, U. S. N., and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Lieutenant W. H. Wilson, Chaplain Corps, U. S. N. R. F 53</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical failures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. N 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Circumcision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 77</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A glue cast for fractures of long bones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N . 79</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculin in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 81</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diphtheria at Mare Island, Calif., in 1920.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Agglutination of human erythrocytes by sera.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and Pharmacist's
Mate E. C. Upp, U. S. N 8G</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A method of ringing the hanging drop, etc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Hospital Apprentice First Class D. G. Willard, U. S. N 92</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preparation of colloidal gold solution.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Marie Karlen. Reserve Nurse Corps, and Pharmacist's Mate First Class
A. E. Bourke, U. S. N 94</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of seventy-five refraction cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 95</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Empyema cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant E. R. Guinan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 99</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute mastoiditis. Page.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 106</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental foci in the etiology of systemic disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, and Lieutenant</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 109</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Transfusion in medical cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. H. Murray, Medical Corps, TJ. S. N 117</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DENTAL BRANCH OF THE HOSPITAL COBPS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 118</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS PEBICABDITI8.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 120</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ACUTE ANILINE POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 123</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Sale, Medical Corps, U. S. N 126</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF NEUROPARALYTIC KERATITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vernal conjunctivitis treated with radium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1 128</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of acute myelitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. E. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 130</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of osteoma of the tibia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 131</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DISLOCATED SEMILUNAR CARTHAGE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF COMPOUND FRACTURE OF TIBIA AND FIBULA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DEATH FROM NITRIC ACID POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U.S. N 133</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NECROSIS OF THE MANDIBLE ; TWO CASES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 134</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Alexis Soyer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 139</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Morale 175</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal statistics of the Army and Navy: A study of certain published
reports.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain C. E. RIggs. Medical Corps, U. S. N 179</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of one hundred compound fractures due to shell fragments or
machine-gun bullets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. L. Clifton, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 191</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Death From Novarsenobenzol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander R. A. Torrance, Medical Corps, U. S. N 193</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mercurochrome —220, in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. L. Darnall, Dental Corps, U. S. N_ 194</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
—The clinical recognition of syphilis. —Mercury bichloride Intravenously. —
Transduodenal lavage. — Immunization against diphtheria. —Buccal auscultation
197</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. — Malingering. —Extending the field of
conscious control. —The patient himself. —Anxiety and fear 210</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Blood transfusion. —Dangers of transfusion. —Mixture of ethyl
chloride, chloroform, and ether for anesthesia. — Skin grafting.—Autoplasties
for baldness. —Bladder tumors 217</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Hospital tires.—Coffee and vitamines 223
Tropical medicine. —Sterilization of ova in bilharziasis.—Antimony in the
treatment of bilharziasis 226</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Cause and diagnosis of glaucoma ; treatment
by myotics.— Corneal disease of tubercular origin. —Action of chloral on the
pupil 227</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Enlistments. —Professional training of experienced officers.—The case of
the U. S. S. Pittsburgh. —Prostatic lithiasis.—Cessation of respiration 15
hours before death. —Chloropierin to exterminate rats. —The Annual Report of
the Surgeon General, U. S. Navy. —Finding malarial parasites.— Icterus in
malaria.—Excretion of quinine.— Student health at the University of
Iowa.—Conference on war victims. —Pleasure and profit in the Medical Corps of
the Navy. —Law regarding thermometers. —Adhesive plaster. —The essential in
nursing. —Laxative cookies.—Samoa. —The Navy Mutual Aid Association 236</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 251</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE<span> </span>VII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VIII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of influenza.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander J. L. Neilson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 269</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Intravenous use of magnesium sulphate in influenzal pneumonia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Hogan, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F.<span> </span>277</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental injuries from electric currents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. J. Zalesky and Lieutenant W. T. Brown, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 279</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of sterilization in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N. 282</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Peptic ulcer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 285</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURVEY OF FIFTY COURT-MARTIAL PRISONERS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Castle, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F<span> </span>291</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hospital training of apprentices.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 296</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of instructing hospital corpsmen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr. Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>302</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Standardizing treatment for venereal disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. D. Owens, Medical Corps, U. S. N 308</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Plan of organization for a naval hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain R. P. Crandall and Commander W. A. Angwin, Medical Corps, U.
S. N 316</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>347</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Calling a spade an implement of horticultural utility 377</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">"To bide the hobbyhorse with the boys " 378</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SIGGESTED DEVICES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">RETINOSCOPIC LENS HOLDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 383</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Strong room for alcohol and narcotics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 385</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Detection of mosquito larvae.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 380</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculous meningitis simulating lethargic encephalitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 387</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Advancement of ocular muscles by the Fox technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U.S. N<span> </span><span> </span>392</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical treatment of "saddle nose" deformity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U. S. N 397</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A HAND PLASTIC.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 399</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dislocation of first cervical vertebra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain G. T. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 400</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Death from neo-arsphenamine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. .T. Za leaky and Lieutenant J. B. Bellinger, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 401</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Thrombosis of the lateral sinus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander E. E. Koebbe, Medical Corps, U. S. N_ 403</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Orchitis complicating tonsillitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenants J. D. Benjamin and T. C. Quirk, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span>408</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operations for trauma of the urethra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. L. Cowles, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. P 407</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sea sickness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander C. E. Henry. Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 410</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of the " West Indian chancroid."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. H. Michael, Medical Corps, U. S. N 412</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —The arsphenaniines in therapeutics. —Recital absorption
of glucose 415</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. —lethargic encephalitis. —Theory of hysteria.
—Mental deficiency 420</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Resuscitation in death under anesthesia. —Advances in anesthesia.
— Sloughing in local anesthesia. —Anesthesia in abdominal surgery. —
Suppurating wounds after abdominal section. —Saving suppurating Incisions.
—Abdominal adhesions. —Perforating gastric and duodenal ulcer. — Persistence of
pyloric and duodenal ulcers. — Diverticula of the duodenum.— Orthopedic
treatment of burns. —Postoperative bronchial irritation. —Care of surgical patients.
—End-to-end anastomosis. —Genital tuberculosis.— Radium therapy of cancer of
bladder. — Radium and malignant genitourinary disease.—Bone tumors. —Fracture
of vertebrae. —Penetrating wounds of chest. —Operation for empyema.—Plastic war
surgery in civil life. —The war's contribution to civil surgery 429</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Typhus fever in Serbia 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bactkriology, and animal parasitology. —Diagnosis of cholera.
—Staining malarial parasites. —Saprophytysm of venereal organisms. — Variation
in size of red cells. —Anophellnes of California. —Reaction from echinococcus fluid
457</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.— Encephalitis lethargica<span> </span>487</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS: <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Bronchospirochaetosis. — Starvation edema. —Dried cabbage as an antiscorbutic.
—Miner's nystagmus. —Endocrines and the teeth. — Orientation of bats. — Sugar
production.- -The teeth of the ancient Egyptians. —Treatment of enlarged
thymus. —Plague in Paris.— Antivenereal campaign in Rouen.— Medical school of
the University of Virginia. —Postgraduate study In the Japanese Navy. — National
Academy of Science.—Peking Unjon Medical College. — The dye Industry. — Naval
medical service as a career. —Naval dispensary and hospital defined.— Death of
Anton Weichselbaum. — Action of the Women's Civic League, Maiden, Mass. — Dr.
Russel H. Boggs. — Preservation of leather. —Service publications. —Picric acid
<span> </span>469</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sewage system in Charlotte Amalia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. L. Pettigrew, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. N. and
Lieutenant E. Peterson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 481</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Application of the Schick reaction to 2,011 naval recruits.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood. Medical Corps, U. S. N 486</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. C. Melborn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sanitary report on Libau, Latvia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. C. Smith and Lieutenant R. P. Parsons,
Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Summer school, Hampton Roads, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. E. Lowman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 495</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INFORMATION WANTED 498</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 499</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES : Surgical service of the United States Naval Hospital,
New Orleans, La.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. J. Riddick and Lieutenant Commander E. A.
Stephens, Medical Corps, U. S.N.<span> </span><span> </span>507</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERIA IN THE NAVAL SERVICE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N.<span> </span>515</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERICAL CONTRACTURE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 521</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">X-RAY PROCEDURE AND TECHNIQUE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander I. E. Jacobs, Medical Corps, and Chief
Pharmacist's Mate C. B. Worster, U. S. N 524</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Interpretation of abdominal rigidity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>529</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ECHINOCOCCUS CYST.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 530</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NONCORRODIBLE INSTRUMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. C. Thomas, Medical Corps, U. S. N 532</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Aseptic technique for canal instruments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N 533</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumata due to falling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>535</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Administration of neosalvarsan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. B. Bostick, Medical Corps, U. S. N 536</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diet deficiency in Vincent's angina.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Morris, Dental Corps, U. S. N 540</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vincent's infection of the -mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant (j. g.) J. B. Goodall, Dental Corps, U. S. N. R. F <span> </span>542</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Penetrating wound of the pelvis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. P. Gardner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 544</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumatic rupture of spleen —removal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander F. H. Bowman, Medical Corps, U.S. N., and
Lieutenant Commander E. M. Foote, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 545</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operation for wrist drop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. I. Yohannan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 547</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A PLASTIC OPERATION ON THE MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. W. Auerbach, Medical Corps, U. S. N 54S</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A SIMPLE OPERATION FOR TRICHIASIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. S. Cragin, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 551</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ADENO-CARCINOMA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. Boland, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 552</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chancroidal infections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. F. Pearce, Medical Corps, U. S. N 554</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CA8E OF INNOCENT SYPHILIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. W. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 556</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CARCINOMA OF THE TESTICLE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. J. Corcoran, Medical Corps, U. S. N 557</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Removal of an unusually large tumor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. L. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 558</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A RETROSPECT OF NAVAL AND MILITARY MEDICINE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental poisoning — Contributing to the Bulletin —The omission of
the—The future of nursing — Comparative values 627</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine — Mechanism of hiccough — Gases In arterial blood—Treatment
of arsenic poisoning —Treatment of encephalitis letharglca —New test for
nephritis—Blood in pellagra and beri beri —Ocular symptoms in sinus
disease—Reaction from repeated transfusions —Eye symptoms in epidemic
encephalitis —Diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhoids —Cost of venereal
disease—Future of medicine in the United States 637</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases —The criminal—Brain lesions of dementia
praecox —Follow-up studies on mental patients 652</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery—Trauma of the abdomen— Rubber dam tampon —Diagnosis of gastric
or duodenal ulcers —Postoperative thrombophlebitis — Treatment of fractured
patella —Affections of the tibial tubercle— 655</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and Sanitation —Sanitary features of merchant ships 659</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Errata —Centenary of von Helmholtz —Retirement of Filippo Rho, Surgeon
General, Italian Navy—A diagnostic point in tuberculosis —Curing hemorrhoids
—The X-ray and art— Industrial code of<span> </span>New
York —Preservation of eyesight —Basal metabolism —American Society of Tropical
Medicine —Laboratory work in the Far East— Dentistry in South America
—Fireprooflng of fabrics—The exploration of Mount Everest — Physical
development in Japan — Hiccough and encephalitis lethargica —Use of fish as
food in France — Service items 665</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rat-Proofing at the United States Navy Yard, Key West, Fla.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander P. E. Garrison, Medical Corps, U. S. N 673</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of the Fifth Congress of the International Society of Surgery,
Paris.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant S. B. Burk, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F. (Inactive) 681</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Port Au Prince, Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. J. Brown, Medical Corps, U. S. N 695</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical Department of the United States Naval Torpedo Station,
Alexandria, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. C. Kress, Medical Corps, U. S. N 701</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Herman-Perutz Reaction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. V. Genzmer, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 708</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 711</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE V</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Color blindness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain E. J. Grow, Medical Corps, U. S. N 717</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cardiac irregularity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. U. Reed, Medical Corps, U. S. N 732</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Handling of recruits, Marine Barracks, Parris Island.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 740</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Four centuries in the treatment of syphilis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Shaffer, Medical Corps, U. S. N 749</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Marine Corps field hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Cottle, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>762</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Training and care of the football squad, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Md.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant M. H. Roberts, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 770</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Gas poisoning in warfare.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. H. Mankin, Medical Corps, U. S. N 775</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal prophylaxis among U. S. Marines at Honolulu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N_. 783</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Manila Galleon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr, Medical Corps, U. S. N. 787</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">On learning to write-—On several phases of syphilis 801</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SUGGESTED DEVICES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental X-ray film holder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps. U. S. N_- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggestion for recording dental conditions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N-- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CUTANEOUS SPOROTRICHOSIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander R. E. Hoyt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 809</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of pellagra in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Clark, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 813</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute rheumatic fever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. M. Alberty, Medical Corps, U. S. N 814</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of poisoning by oil of chenopodium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood, Medical Corps, U. S. N 818</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brushing the teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>824</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">TWENTY-EIGHT CASES OF PNEUMONIA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. R. Jeffrey, Medical Corps, U. S. N 825</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander S. P. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 830</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cholecystectomy <span> </span>and pyelotomy in
Guam.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander A. H. Robnett, Medical Corps, U. S. N 831</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Elephantiasis of the scrotum.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Breene, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and W. Zur Linden,
chief pharmacist, Medical Corps, U. S. N 884</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rules for massage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. S. Bainbridge, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F— 835</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Transfusion of blood—Diabetes mellitus In the Negro
race— Diagnosis of syphilis In malarial subjects —So-called diseases of the
blood— Singultus— The role of the prostate and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">seminal vesicles in arthritis —Medical aspects of naval aviation — Treating
syphilitics—The etiology of scurvy —Food accessory factors in relation to the
teeth 839</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Immediate surgery in fighting ships —Immediate surgery of war
wounds as practiced in hospital ships —The surgical treatment of empyema by a
closed method—Willems treatment of</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">knee-joint injuries —Observations on primary venereal sores—Resection
of the small intestine for war wounds —Tetanus in the British Army during the
European War 855</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —New method of treatment of trypanosomiasis — Differential
diagnosis in tropical fevers —Schistosomiasis in the Yangtse Valley—Carriers of
dysenteriae among soldiers —Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 870</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. — Cultivation of gonococcus—Aestivo-autumnal
malaria Plasmodia —Virulence of diphtheria-like organisms 885</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy.—Absorption of calcium salts in man— Improvements
in the Nephelometer-Colorimeter — Substitution of turbidimetry for nephelometry
in certain biochemical methods of analysis— Creatinuria —Phosphoric acid in the
blood of normal infants—Basal metabolism of normal women—Fat-soluble vitamine— Standards
for normal basal metabolism 887</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.- —Injuries to the ear in modern warfare— Injuries
to the ear in modern warfare— Symptomatology and diagnosis of foreign bodies in
the air and food passages—Etiology and prevention of injuries to the eye
—Mosher-Totl operation on the lachrymal sac —-Tuberculosis of the middle ear
892</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Colles's Fracture—The French view of an American medical congress —Case
Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital— National cancer week- —
Pharmacopoeia of China —Municipal disposal of garbage—American Journal of
Tropical Medicine —Danger of week-end camping in the Tropics — Influenza
epidemic in the British Navy —Benvenuto Cellini—A Consulting Surgeon in the
Near</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">East—Asphyxiation in Garages —Dental service In the British Navy
—Surgeon Captain Lomas, R. N.—Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William
Osler —John Keats, apothecary and poet — Life and times of Ambroise
Pare—Treatment of ozena —Lead poisoning in the pottery trade—The International
Journal of Gastro-Enterology— Treatment of malarial fever —Formaldehyde
poisoning — Toxic effects of shaking arsphenamine solution —Peking Union Medical
College —Milk standards 901</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 921</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INDEX 983</p>
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Rack: It makes me wonder where it all started, that damage, I mean.
Ruin: I am inclined to think in the womb.
Rack: In vitro
Rack: Hah! Snap. (Our messages crossed)
Ruin: Yes, endocrine disruptors, alcohol, smoking, PFAS, whatevs, so many possible interloping would-be drivers.
Rack: My parents were bonkers. And innocents.
Ruin: Abused, neglected, parents, mine too. That's what I am trying to write about, that 'no blame'. It’s difficult to get there, a life’s work, even.
Rack: Yes. Generational. So glad I never bred.
Ruin: You recognize yourself as part of a history of 400 years of brutalisation, poverty, ignorance, and religion. So am I, relative to reproducing, I am also glad to be the end of a line. But in the meantime, you do have to end up picking yourself up, and starting all over again, battle wounds incorporated. I find that the keeping of a record can be a creative response and a valuable tool for continuing, for the preservation of a type of ‘Hope’.
I think it's a wonder that we try to do that, and the begrudgers can feck (insert another vowel according to degree of concurrence) themselves
Are you still away, still housesitting?
Rack: I can’t say those three things about my upbringing. There was often scarcity but not poverty. There was plenty of books. And the wrong/other religion.
Ruin: there were two books in our house, actually one of them was in the car. I suspect that was my father's wank material.
Rack: Yes. I went into the city for a big money dog and came back last night, a dog-walking expedition.
Ruin: That book was 'In Praise of Older Women'
Rack: I was blessed in that regard, book-wise, I mean.
Ruin: how long will you stay there? The other book, my sister and mother burnt it in front of me, was 'A Stone for Danny Fisher'.
Rack: Why did they burn the second book? We leave Wednesday for a friend's 70th in Vermont. Then back to the city. I could see moving up here. Finally.
Ruin: it was porn apparently. My sister caught me reading it and told my mother. 'The Carpetbaggers', also by Harold Robbins, had just been banned in Ireland, and decried from the pulpit. It was filth, according to Monseigneur O’Regan, so my mother tore it up in front of me as my sister gloated.
Rack: Lordy!!!!
Ruin: I had no idea where it came from, the book, it was just there, and I started to read it. I was desperate to read anything. When I asked my mother to sign for me to get a library card, she refused.
Rack: My father hid ‘Casino Royale’ from me. I suppose books were a threat.
Ruin: My father would disappear into the car every now and then, in the driveway.
Rack: The wank mobile.
Ruin: No, she was afraid I would damage them, and she would have to pay for them.
Rack: Aaah
Ruin: Eventually, I managed to join, and brought home Camus and Sartre. I have no idea how I chanced upon the existential section in Clondalkin Public Library. That was how I started reading.
Rack: Amazing. That urge to learn and expand. Sui generis. My Dad was like that. Before he got mental.
Ruin: 'A Happy Death', 'The Plague', 'The Myth of Sisyphus', 'The Rebel', ‘The Roads to Freedom’, she was right to worry. I remember the titles scared her, she knew she had made a mistake. I think she thought of it like some awful virus. It certainly does drive you mad and gives you ideas above your station. My head was turned through 360 degrees.
Rack: Blessed virus.
Ruin: and madness ensued. Exit the Blessed Virgin (BVM), and this Blessed Virus replaced her in one fell swoop, and before we knew it this sacred whore was wanting to go to Art School, where I must have seen your blessed mother often.
Rack: I suppose. I am grappling with my father’s failure. It has seeped into me.
Ruin: Yes, I suspect a lot of it is daddy stuff. I recognize it in you, it being the same as with me.
Rack: Yes. She broke the picket and took their jobs.
Ruin: Ah, that famous 'National College of Art and Design' rebellion, the stuff of a wannabe rebel's dreams, I remember it well. I was locked in the building all night with the other communards, in the life-drawing studio, with the janitors ringing bells, every half-hour, to keep us awake. We thought we were on the barricades, petites Parisiennes, radicals like the 1968 Paris students, fighting for justice, pissing into a communal bucket. It was all wonderfully delusional.
Rack: Glorious! Being alone with them, my parents, was intense.
Ruin: It must have been, that electro-shock da, those burnt temples, and your mother, but as you said, school saved you.
Rack: Yes, it did. Just being away from them. My whole life was an escape. Now I miss them sometimes. They were suffocating and neglectful.
Ruin: I have stopped running, eventually you have to. I see you as there too. That was a terrible combination to have endured.
Ruin: My mother was needy, my father was absent (mostly in a bottle). I would love you to tell your story.
Rack: You’re going to. Xox
Ruin: But you are telling it here. I would like it to slow drip itself towards a type of deluge. Everything I write will eventually generate from what we write back and forth to each other. Please don't stop feeding me. Just ignore that 'don't feed the savage beasts' sign. I do. I still haven't arrived in London in the writing, I am just making it to Liverpool, but you are already hugely there, even some 15 years before we met.
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
Go to the Book with image in the Internet Archive
Title: United States Naval Medical Bulletin Vol. 15, Nos. 1-4, 1921
Creator: U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Publisher:
Sponsor:
Contributor:
Date: 1921
Language: eng
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Table of Contents</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PORTRAIT OF SURGEON GENERAL E. R. STITT, U. S. NAVY —Frontispiece</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">THE NAVAL HOSPITAL, MARE ISLAND, CALIF. :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operating room technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, and Bessie C.
Graham, Nurse Corps, U. S. N 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The urological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. B. Hepler, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The roentgenological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 30</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The laboratory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps. U. S. N 34</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Features of organization.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. C. White, Medical Corps, U. S. N 40</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General file and record system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. C. Allen, Medical Corps, U. S. N 4T</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested clinical chart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. C. Baker, Medical Corps, U. S. N 49</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The theater.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Chief Pharmacist T. C. Hart, Medical Corps, U. S. N 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Study of one hundred navy desertions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A H. Ehrenclou. Medical Corps, U. S. N., and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Lieutenant W. H. Wilson, Chaplain Corps, U. S. N. R. F 53</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical failures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. N 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Circumcision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 77</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A glue cast for fractures of long bones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N . 79</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculin in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 81</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diphtheria at Mare Island, Calif., in 1920.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Agglutination of human erythrocytes by sera.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and Pharmacist's
Mate E. C. Upp, U. S. N 8G</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A method of ringing the hanging drop, etc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Hospital Apprentice First Class D. G. Willard, U. S. N 92</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preparation of colloidal gold solution.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Marie Karlen. Reserve Nurse Corps, and Pharmacist's Mate First Class
A. E. Bourke, U. S. N 94</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of seventy-five refraction cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 95</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Empyema cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant E. R. Guinan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 99</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute mastoiditis. Page.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 106</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental foci in the etiology of systemic disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, and Lieutenant</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 109</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Transfusion in medical cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. H. Murray, Medical Corps, TJ. S. N 117</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DENTAL BRANCH OF THE HOSPITAL COBPS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 118</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS PEBICABDITI8.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 120</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ACUTE ANILINE POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 123</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Sale, Medical Corps, U. S. N 126</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF NEUROPARALYTIC KERATITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vernal conjunctivitis treated with radium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1 128</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of acute myelitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. E. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 130</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of osteoma of the tibia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 131</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DISLOCATED SEMILUNAR CARTHAGE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF COMPOUND FRACTURE OF TIBIA AND FIBULA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DEATH FROM NITRIC ACID POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U.S. N 133</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NECROSIS OF THE MANDIBLE ; TWO CASES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 134</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Alexis Soyer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 139</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Morale 175</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal statistics of the Army and Navy: A study of certain published
reports.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain C. E. RIggs. Medical Corps, U. S. N 179</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of one hundred compound fractures due to shell fragments or
machine-gun bullets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. L. Clifton, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 191</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Death From Novarsenobenzol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander R. A. Torrance, Medical Corps, U. S. N 193</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mercurochrome —220, in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. L. Darnall, Dental Corps, U. S. N_ 194</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
—The clinical recognition of syphilis. —Mercury bichloride Intravenously. —
Transduodenal lavage. — Immunization against diphtheria. —Buccal auscultation
197</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. — Malingering. —Extending the field of
conscious control. —The patient himself. —Anxiety and fear 210</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Blood transfusion. —Dangers of transfusion. —Mixture of ethyl
chloride, chloroform, and ether for anesthesia. — Skin grafting.—Autoplasties
for baldness. —Bladder tumors 217</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Hospital tires.—Coffee and vitamines 223
Tropical medicine. —Sterilization of ova in bilharziasis.—Antimony in the
treatment of bilharziasis 226</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Cause and diagnosis of glaucoma ; treatment
by myotics.— Corneal disease of tubercular origin. —Action of chloral on the
pupil 227</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Enlistments. —Professional training of experienced officers.—The case of
the U. S. S. Pittsburgh. —Prostatic lithiasis.—Cessation of respiration 15
hours before death. —Chloropierin to exterminate rats. —The Annual Report of
the Surgeon General, U. S. Navy. —Finding malarial parasites.— Icterus in
malaria.—Excretion of quinine.— Student health at the University of
Iowa.—Conference on war victims. —Pleasure and profit in the Medical Corps of
the Navy. —Law regarding thermometers. —Adhesive plaster. —The essential in
nursing. —Laxative cookies.—Samoa. —The Navy Mutual Aid Association 236</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 251</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE<span> </span>VII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VIII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of influenza.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander J. L. Neilson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 269</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Intravenous use of magnesium sulphate in influenzal pneumonia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Hogan, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F.<span> </span>277</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental injuries from electric currents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. J. Zalesky and Lieutenant W. T. Brown, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 279</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of sterilization in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N. 282</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Peptic ulcer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 285</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURVEY OF FIFTY COURT-MARTIAL PRISONERS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Castle, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F<span> </span>291</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hospital training of apprentices.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 296</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of instructing hospital corpsmen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr. Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>302</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Standardizing treatment for venereal disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. D. Owens, Medical Corps, U. S. N 308</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Plan of organization for a naval hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain R. P. Crandall and Commander W. A. Angwin, Medical Corps, U.
S. N 316</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>347</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Calling a spade an implement of horticultural utility 377</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">"To bide the hobbyhorse with the boys " 378</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SIGGESTED DEVICES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">RETINOSCOPIC LENS HOLDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 383</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Strong room for alcohol and narcotics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 385</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Detection of mosquito larvae.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 380</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculous meningitis simulating lethargic encephalitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 387</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Advancement of ocular muscles by the Fox technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U.S. N<span> </span><span> </span>392</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical treatment of "saddle nose" deformity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U. S. N 397</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A HAND PLASTIC.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 399</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dislocation of first cervical vertebra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain G. T. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 400</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Death from neo-arsphenamine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. .T. Za leaky and Lieutenant J. B. Bellinger, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 401</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Thrombosis of the lateral sinus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander E. E. Koebbe, Medical Corps, U. S. N_ 403</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Orchitis complicating tonsillitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenants J. D. Benjamin and T. C. Quirk, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span>408</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operations for trauma of the urethra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. L. Cowles, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. P 407</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sea sickness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander C. E. Henry. Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 410</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of the " West Indian chancroid."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. H. Michael, Medical Corps, U. S. N 412</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —The arsphenaniines in therapeutics. —Recital absorption
of glucose 415</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. —lethargic encephalitis. —Theory of hysteria.
—Mental deficiency 420</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Resuscitation in death under anesthesia. —Advances in anesthesia.
— Sloughing in local anesthesia. —Anesthesia in abdominal surgery. —
Suppurating wounds after abdominal section. —Saving suppurating Incisions.
—Abdominal adhesions. —Perforating gastric and duodenal ulcer. — Persistence of
pyloric and duodenal ulcers. — Diverticula of the duodenum.— Orthopedic
treatment of burns. —Postoperative bronchial irritation. —Care of surgical patients.
—End-to-end anastomosis. —Genital tuberculosis.— Radium therapy of cancer of
bladder. — Radium and malignant genitourinary disease.—Bone tumors. —Fracture
of vertebrae. —Penetrating wounds of chest. —Operation for empyema.—Plastic war
surgery in civil life. —The war's contribution to civil surgery 429</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Typhus fever in Serbia 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bactkriology, and animal parasitology. —Diagnosis of cholera.
—Staining malarial parasites. —Saprophytysm of venereal organisms. — Variation
in size of red cells. —Anophellnes of California. —Reaction from echinococcus fluid
457</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.— Encephalitis lethargica<span> </span>487</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS: <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Bronchospirochaetosis. — Starvation edema. —Dried cabbage as an antiscorbutic.
—Miner's nystagmus. —Endocrines and the teeth. — Orientation of bats. — Sugar
production.- -The teeth of the ancient Egyptians. —Treatment of enlarged
thymus. —Plague in Paris.— Antivenereal campaign in Rouen.— Medical school of
the University of Virginia. —Postgraduate study In the Japanese Navy. — National
Academy of Science.—Peking Unjon Medical College. — The dye Industry. — Naval
medical service as a career. —Naval dispensary and hospital defined.— Death of
Anton Weichselbaum. — Action of the Women's Civic League, Maiden, Mass. — Dr.
Russel H. Boggs. — Preservation of leather. —Service publications. —Picric acid
<span> </span>469</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sewage system in Charlotte Amalia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. L. Pettigrew, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. N. and
Lieutenant E. Peterson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 481</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Application of the Schick reaction to 2,011 naval recruits.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood. Medical Corps, U. S. N 486</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. C. Melborn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sanitary report on Libau, Latvia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. C. Smith and Lieutenant R. P. Parsons,
Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Summer school, Hampton Roads, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. E. Lowman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 495</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INFORMATION WANTED 498</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 499</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES : Surgical service of the United States Naval Hospital,
New Orleans, La.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. J. Riddick and Lieutenant Commander E. A.
Stephens, Medical Corps, U. S.N.<span> </span><span> </span>507</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERIA IN THE NAVAL SERVICE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N.<span> </span>515</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERICAL CONTRACTURE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 521</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">X-RAY PROCEDURE AND TECHNIQUE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander I. E. Jacobs, Medical Corps, and Chief
Pharmacist's Mate C. B. Worster, U. S. N 524</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Interpretation of abdominal rigidity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>529</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ECHINOCOCCUS CYST.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 530</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NONCORRODIBLE INSTRUMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. C. Thomas, Medical Corps, U. S. N 532</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Aseptic technique for canal instruments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N 533</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumata due to falling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>535</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Administration of neosalvarsan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. B. Bostick, Medical Corps, U. S. N 536</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diet deficiency in Vincent's angina.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Morris, Dental Corps, U. S. N 540</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vincent's infection of the -mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant (j. g.) J. B. Goodall, Dental Corps, U. S. N. R. F <span> </span>542</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Penetrating wound of the pelvis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. P. Gardner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 544</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumatic rupture of spleen —removal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander F. H. Bowman, Medical Corps, U.S. N., and
Lieutenant Commander E. M. Foote, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 545</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operation for wrist drop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. I. Yohannan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 547</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A PLASTIC OPERATION ON THE MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. W. Auerbach, Medical Corps, U. S. N 54S</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A SIMPLE OPERATION FOR TRICHIASIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. S. Cragin, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 551</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ADENO-CARCINOMA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. Boland, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 552</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chancroidal infections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. F. Pearce, Medical Corps, U. S. N 554</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CA8E OF INNOCENT SYPHILIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. W. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 556</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CARCINOMA OF THE TESTICLE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. J. Corcoran, Medical Corps, U. S. N 557</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Removal of an unusually large tumor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. L. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 558</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A RETROSPECT OF NAVAL AND MILITARY MEDICINE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental poisoning — Contributing to the Bulletin —The omission of
the—The future of nursing — Comparative values 627</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine — Mechanism of hiccough — Gases In arterial blood—Treatment
of arsenic poisoning —Treatment of encephalitis letharglca —New test for
nephritis—Blood in pellagra and beri beri —Ocular symptoms in sinus
disease—Reaction from repeated transfusions —Eye symptoms in epidemic
encephalitis —Diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhoids —Cost of venereal
disease—Future of medicine in the United States 637</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases —The criminal—Brain lesions of dementia
praecox —Follow-up studies on mental patients 652</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery—Trauma of the abdomen— Rubber dam tampon —Diagnosis of gastric
or duodenal ulcers —Postoperative thrombophlebitis — Treatment of fractured
patella —Affections of the tibial tubercle— 655</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and Sanitation —Sanitary features of merchant ships 659</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Errata —Centenary of von Helmholtz —Retirement of Filippo Rho, Surgeon
General, Italian Navy—A diagnostic point in tuberculosis —Curing hemorrhoids
—The X-ray and art— Industrial code of<span> </span>New
York —Preservation of eyesight —Basal metabolism —American Society of Tropical
Medicine —Laboratory work in the Far East— Dentistry in South America
—Fireprooflng of fabrics—The exploration of Mount Everest — Physical
development in Japan — Hiccough and encephalitis lethargica —Use of fish as
food in France — Service items 665</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rat-Proofing at the United States Navy Yard, Key West, Fla.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander P. E. Garrison, Medical Corps, U. S. N 673</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of the Fifth Congress of the International Society of Surgery,
Paris.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant S. B. Burk, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F. (Inactive) 681</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Port Au Prince, Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. J. Brown, Medical Corps, U. S. N 695</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical Department of the United States Naval Torpedo Station,
Alexandria, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. C. Kress, Medical Corps, U. S. N 701</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Herman-Perutz Reaction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. V. Genzmer, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 708</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 711</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE V</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Color blindness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain E. J. Grow, Medical Corps, U. S. N 717</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cardiac irregularity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. U. Reed, Medical Corps, U. S. N 732</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Handling of recruits, Marine Barracks, Parris Island.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 740</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Four centuries in the treatment of syphilis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Shaffer, Medical Corps, U. S. N 749</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Marine Corps field hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Cottle, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>762</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Training and care of the football squad, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Md.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant M. H. Roberts, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 770</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Gas poisoning in warfare.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. H. Mankin, Medical Corps, U. S. N 775</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal prophylaxis among U. S. Marines at Honolulu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N_. 783</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Manila Galleon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr, Medical Corps, U. S. N. 787</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">On learning to write-—On several phases of syphilis 801</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SUGGESTED DEVICES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental X-ray film holder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps. U. S. N_- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggestion for recording dental conditions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N-- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CUTANEOUS SPOROTRICHOSIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander R. E. Hoyt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 809</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of pellagra in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Clark, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 813</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute rheumatic fever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. M. Alberty, Medical Corps, U. S. N 814</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of poisoning by oil of chenopodium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood, Medical Corps, U. S. N 818</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brushing the teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>824</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">TWENTY-EIGHT CASES OF PNEUMONIA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. R. Jeffrey, Medical Corps, U. S. N 825</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander S. P. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 830</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cholecystectomy <span> </span>and pyelotomy in
Guam.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander A. H. Robnett, Medical Corps, U. S. N 831</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Elephantiasis of the scrotum.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Breene, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and W. Zur Linden,
chief pharmacist, Medical Corps, U. S. N 884</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rules for massage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. S. Bainbridge, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F— 835</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Transfusion of blood—Diabetes mellitus In the Negro
race— Diagnosis of syphilis In malarial subjects —So-called diseases of the
blood— Singultus— The role of the prostate and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">seminal vesicles in arthritis —Medical aspects of naval aviation — Treating
syphilitics—The etiology of scurvy —Food accessory factors in relation to the
teeth 839</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Immediate surgery in fighting ships —Immediate surgery of war
wounds as practiced in hospital ships —The surgical treatment of empyema by a
closed method—Willems treatment of</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">knee-joint injuries —Observations on primary venereal sores—Resection
of the small intestine for war wounds —Tetanus in the British Army during the
European War 855</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —New method of treatment of trypanosomiasis — Differential
diagnosis in tropical fevers —Schistosomiasis in the Yangtse Valley—Carriers of
dysenteriae among soldiers —Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 870</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. — Cultivation of gonococcus—Aestivo-autumnal
malaria Plasmodia —Virulence of diphtheria-like organisms 885</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy.—Absorption of calcium salts in man— Improvements
in the Nephelometer-Colorimeter — Substitution of turbidimetry for nephelometry
in certain biochemical methods of analysis— Creatinuria —Phosphoric acid in the
blood of normal infants—Basal metabolism of normal women—Fat-soluble vitamine— Standards
for normal basal metabolism 887</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.- —Injuries to the ear in modern warfare— Injuries
to the ear in modern warfare— Symptomatology and diagnosis of foreign bodies in
the air and food passages—Etiology and prevention of injuries to the eye
—Mosher-Totl operation on the lachrymal sac —-Tuberculosis of the middle ear
892</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Colles's Fracture—The French view of an American medical congress —Case
Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital— National cancer week- —
Pharmacopoeia of China —Municipal disposal of garbage—American Journal of
Tropical Medicine —Danger of week-end camping in the Tropics — Influenza
epidemic in the British Navy —Benvenuto Cellini—A Consulting Surgeon in the
Near</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">East—Asphyxiation in Garages —Dental service In the British Navy
—Surgeon Captain Lomas, R. N.—Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William
Osler —John Keats, apothecary and poet — Life and times of Ambroise
Pare—Treatment of ozena —Lead poisoning in the pottery trade—The International
Journal of Gastro-Enterology— Treatment of malarial fever —Formaldehyde
poisoning — Toxic effects of shaking arsphenamine solution —Peking Union Medical
College —Milk standards 901</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 921</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INDEX 983</p>
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Title: United States Naval Medical Bulletin Vol. 15, Nos. 1-4, 1921
Creator: U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Publisher:
Sponsor:
Contributor:
Date: 1921
Language: eng
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Table of Contents</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PORTRAIT OF SURGEON GENERAL E. R. STITT, U. S. NAVY —Frontispiece</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">THE NAVAL HOSPITAL, MARE ISLAND, CALIF. :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operating room technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, and Bessie C.
Graham, Nurse Corps, U. S. N 10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The urological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. B. Hepler, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The roentgenological service.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 30</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The laboratory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps. U. S. N 34</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Features of organization.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. C. White, Medical Corps, U. S. N 40</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General file and record system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. C. Allen, Medical Corps, U. S. N 4T</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested clinical chart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. C. Baker, Medical Corps, U. S. N 49</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The theater.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Chief Pharmacist T. C. Hart, Medical Corps, U. S. N 50</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Study of one hundred navy desertions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A H. Ehrenclou. Medical Corps, U. S. N., and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Lieutenant W. H. Wilson, Chaplain Corps, U. S. N. R. F 53</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical failures.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. N 69</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Circumcision.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 77</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A glue cast for fractures of long bones.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. R. Coleman, Medical Corps, U. S. N . 79</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculin in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 81</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diphtheria at Mare Island, Calif., in 1920.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Agglutination of human erythrocytes by sera.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and Pharmacist's
Mate E. C. Upp, U. S. N 8G</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A method of ringing the hanging drop, etc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Hospital Apprentice First Class D. G. Willard, U. S. N 92</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preparation of colloidal gold solution.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Marie Karlen. Reserve Nurse Corps, and Pharmacist's Mate First Class
A. E. Bourke, U. S. N 94</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of seventy-five refraction cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 95</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Empyema cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant E. R. Guinan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 99</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute mastoiditis. Page.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 106</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental foci in the etiology of systemic disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, and Lieutenant</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 109</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Transfusion in medical cases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant D. H. Murray, Medical Corps, TJ. S. N 117</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DENTAL BRANCH OF THE HOSPITAL COBPS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 118</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS PEBICABDITI8.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 120</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ACUTE ANILINE POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 123</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Sale, Medical Corps, U. S. N 126</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF NEUROPARALYTIC KERATITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. N. Meador, Medical Corps, U. S. N 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vernal conjunctivitis treated with radium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. D. Horner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 1 128</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of acute myelitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. E. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 130</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of osteoma of the tibia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 131</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DISLOCATED SEMILUNAR CARTHAGE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF COMPOUND FRACTURE OF TIBIA AND FIBULA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. G. Linde, Medical Corps, U. S. N 132</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A DEATH FROM NITRIC ACID POISONING.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. A. Gray, Medical Corps, U.S. N 133</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NECROSIS OF THE MANDIBLE ; TWO CASES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Loveall, Dental Corps, U. S. N 134</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Alexis Soyer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 139</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Morale 175</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal statistics of the Army and Navy: A study of certain published
reports.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain C. E. RIggs. Medical Corps, U. S. N 179</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of one hundred compound fractures due to shell fragments or
machine-gun bullets.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. L. Clifton, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 191</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Death From Novarsenobenzol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander R. A. Torrance, Medical Corps, U. S. N 193</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mercurochrome —220, in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. L. Darnall, Dental Corps, U. S. N_ 194</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.
—The clinical recognition of syphilis. —Mercury bichloride Intravenously. —
Transduodenal lavage. — Immunization against diphtheria. —Buccal auscultation
197</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. — Malingering. —Extending the field of
conscious control. —The patient himself. —Anxiety and fear 210</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Blood transfusion. —Dangers of transfusion. —Mixture of ethyl
chloride, chloroform, and ether for anesthesia. — Skin grafting.—Autoplasties
for baldness. —Bladder tumors 217</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Hospital tires.—Coffee and vitamines 223
Tropical medicine. —Sterilization of ova in bilharziasis.—Antimony in the
treatment of bilharziasis 226</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Cause and diagnosis of glaucoma ; treatment
by myotics.— Corneal disease of tubercular origin. —Action of chloral on the
pupil 227</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Enlistments. —Professional training of experienced officers.—The case of
the U. S. S. Pittsburgh. —Prostatic lithiasis.—Cessation of respiration 15
hours before death. —Chloropierin to exterminate rats. —The Annual Report of
the Surgeon General, U. S. Navy. —Finding malarial parasites.— Icterus in
malaria.—Excretion of quinine.— Student health at the University of
Iowa.—Conference on war victims. —Pleasure and profit in the Medical Corps of
the Navy. —Law regarding thermometers. —Adhesive plaster. —The essential in
nursing. —Laxative cookies.—Samoa. —The Navy Mutual Aid Association 236</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 251</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE<span> </span>VII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VIII</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of influenza.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander J. L. Neilson, Medical Corps, U. S. N 269</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Intravenous use of magnesium sulphate in influenzal pneumonia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. J. Hogan, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F.<span> </span>277</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental injuries from electric currents.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. J. Zalesky and Lieutenant W. T. Brown, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 279</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of sterilization in dentistry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N. 282</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Peptic ulcer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 285</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURVEY OF FIFTY COURT-MARTIAL PRISONERS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Castle, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R.F<span> </span>291</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hospital training of apprentices.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 296</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Methods of instructing hospital corpsmen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr. Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>302</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Standardizing treatment for venereal disease.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. D. Owens, Medical Corps, U. S. N 308</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Plan of organization for a naval hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain R. P. Crandall and Commander W. A. Angwin, Medical Corps, U.
S. N 316</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SURGERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S.N<span> </span>347</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Calling a spade an implement of horticultural utility 377</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">"To bide the hobbyhorse with the boys " 378</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SIGGESTED DEVICES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">RETINOSCOPIC LENS HOLDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 383</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Strong room for alcohol and narcotics.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain A. Farenholt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 385</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Detection of mosquito larvae.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 380</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tuberculous meningitis simulating lethargic encephalitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 387</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Advancement of ocular muscles by the Fox technique.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U.S. N<span> </span><span> </span>392</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgical treatment of "saddle nose" deformity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. B. Camerer, Medical Corps. U. S. N 397</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A HAND PLASTIC.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 399</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dislocation of first cervical vertebra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain G. T. Smith, Medical Corps, U. S. N 400</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Death from neo-arsphenamine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. .T. Za leaky and Lieutenant J. B. Bellinger, Medical Corps,
U. S. N 401</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Thrombosis of the lateral sinus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander E. E. Koebbe, Medical Corps, U. S. N_ 403</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Orchitis complicating tonsillitis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenants J. D. Benjamin and T. C. Quirk, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span>408</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operations for trauma of the urethra.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. L. Cowles, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. P 407</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sea sickness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander C. E. Henry. Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 410</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Treatment of the " West Indian chancroid."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. H. Michael, Medical Corps, U. S. N 412</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —The arsphenaniines in therapeutics. —Recital absorption
of glucose 415</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. —lethargic encephalitis. —Theory of hysteria.
—Mental deficiency 420</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Resuscitation in death under anesthesia. —Advances in anesthesia.
— Sloughing in local anesthesia. —Anesthesia in abdominal surgery. —
Suppurating wounds after abdominal section. —Saving suppurating Incisions.
—Abdominal adhesions. —Perforating gastric and duodenal ulcer. — Persistence of
pyloric and duodenal ulcers. — Diverticula of the duodenum.— Orthopedic
treatment of burns. —Postoperative bronchial irritation. —Care of surgical patients.
—End-to-end anastomosis. —Genital tuberculosis.— Radium therapy of cancer of
bladder. — Radium and malignant genitourinary disease.—Bone tumors. —Fracture
of vertebrae. —Penetrating wounds of chest. —Operation for empyema.—Plastic war
surgery in civil life. —The war's contribution to civil surgery 429</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Typhus fever in Serbia 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bactkriology, and animal parasitology. —Diagnosis of cholera.
—Staining malarial parasites. —Saprophytysm of venereal organisms. — Variation
in size of red cells. —Anophellnes of California. —Reaction from echinococcus fluid
457</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.— Encephalitis lethargica<span> </span>487</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS: <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Bronchospirochaetosis. — Starvation edema. —Dried cabbage as an antiscorbutic.
—Miner's nystagmus. —Endocrines and the teeth. — Orientation of bats. — Sugar
production.- -The teeth of the ancient Egyptians. —Treatment of enlarged
thymus. —Plague in Paris.— Antivenereal campaign in Rouen.— Medical school of
the University of Virginia. —Postgraduate study In the Japanese Navy. — National
Academy of Science.—Peking Unjon Medical College. — The dye Industry. — Naval
medical service as a career. —Naval dispensary and hospital defined.— Death of
Anton Weichselbaum. — Action of the Women's Civic League, Maiden, Mass. — Dr.
Russel H. Boggs. — Preservation of leather. —Service publications. —Picric acid
<span> </span>469</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sewage system in Charlotte Amalia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. L. Pettigrew, Civil Engineer Corps, U. S. N. and
Lieutenant E. Peterson. Medical Corps, U. S. N 481</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Application of the Schick reaction to 2,011 naval recruits.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood. Medical Corps, U. S. N 486</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. C. Melborn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Sanitary report on Libau, Latvia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander A. C. Smith and Lieutenant R. P. Parsons,
Medical Corps, U. S. N 492</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Summer school, Hampton Roads, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander K. E. Lowman, Medical Corps, U. S. N 495</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INFORMATION WANTED 498</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 499</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES : Surgical service of the United States Naval Hospital,
New Orleans, La.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. J. Riddick and Lieutenant Commander E. A.
Stephens, Medical Corps, U. S.N.<span> </span><span> </span>507</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERIA IN THE NAVAL SERVICE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. A. Bloedorn, Medical Corps, U. S. N.<span> </span>515</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF HYSTERICAL CONTRACTURE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant A. H. Ehrenclou, Medical Corps, U. S. N 521</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">X-RAY PROCEDURE AND TECHNIQUE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander I. E. Jacobs, Medical Corps, and Chief
Pharmacist's Mate C. B. Worster, U. S. N 524</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Interpretation of abdominal rigidity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander Lucius W. Johnson, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>529</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ECHINOCOCCUS CYST.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. S. Norburn, Medical Corps, U. S. N 530</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NONCORRODIBLE INSTRUMENTS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. C. Thomas, Medical Corps, U. S. N 532</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Aseptic technique for canal instruments.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N 533</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumata due to falling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>535</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Administration of neosalvarsan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. B. Bostick, Medical Corps, U. S. N 536</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diet deficiency in Vincent's angina.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. H. Morris, Dental Corps, U. S. N 540</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Vincent's infection of the -mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant (j. g.) J. B. Goodall, Dental Corps, U. S. N. R. F <span> </span>542</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Penetrating wound of the pelvis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant F. P. Gardner, Medical Corps, U. S. N 544</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Traumatic rupture of spleen —removal.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander F. H. Bowman, Medical Corps, U.S. N., and
Lieutenant Commander E. M. Foote, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 545</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operation for wrist drop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. I. Yohannan, Medical Corps, U. S. N 547</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A PLASTIC OPERATION ON THE MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant R. W. Auerbach, Medical Corps, U. S. N 54S</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A SIMPLE OPERATION FOR TRICHIASIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant H. S. Cragin, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 551</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF ADENO-CARCINOMA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander M. Boland, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 552</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chancroidal infections.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. F. Pearce, Medical Corps, U. S. N 554</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CA8E OF INNOCENT SYPHILIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. W. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 556</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CARCINOMA OF THE TESTICLE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. J. Corcoran, Medical Corps, U. S. N 557</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Removal of an unusually large tumor.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. L. Jones, Medical Corps, U. S. N 558</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A RETROSPECT OF NAVAL AND MILITARY MEDICINE.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain J. S. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Accidental poisoning — Contributing to the Bulletin —The omission of
the—The future of nursing — Comparative values 627</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine — Mechanism of hiccough — Gases In arterial blood—Treatment
of arsenic poisoning —Treatment of encephalitis letharglca —New test for
nephritis—Blood in pellagra and beri beri —Ocular symptoms in sinus
disease—Reaction from repeated transfusions —Eye symptoms in epidemic
encephalitis —Diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhoids —Cost of venereal
disease—Future of medicine in the United States 637</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases —The criminal—Brain lesions of dementia
praecox —Follow-up studies on mental patients 652</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery—Trauma of the abdomen— Rubber dam tampon —Diagnosis of gastric
or duodenal ulcers —Postoperative thrombophlebitis — Treatment of fractured
patella —Affections of the tibial tubercle— 655</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and Sanitation —Sanitary features of merchant ships 659</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Errata —Centenary of von Helmholtz —Retirement of Filippo Rho, Surgeon
General, Italian Navy—A diagnostic point in tuberculosis —Curing hemorrhoids
—The X-ray and art— Industrial code of<span> </span>New
York —Preservation of eyesight —Basal metabolism —American Society of Tropical
Medicine —Laboratory work in the Far East— Dentistry in South America
—Fireprooflng of fabrics—The exploration of Mount Everest — Physical
development in Japan — Hiccough and encephalitis lethargica —Use of fish as
food in France — Service items 665</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">REPORTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rat-Proofing at the United States Navy Yard, Key West, Fla.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander P. E. Garrison, Medical Corps, U. S. N 673</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of the Fifth Congress of the International Society of Surgery,
Paris.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant S. B. Burk, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F. (Inactive) 681</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox in Port Au Prince, Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant C. J. Brown, Medical Corps, U. S. N 695</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical Department of the United States Naval Torpedo Station,
Alexandria, Va.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander C. C. Kress, Medical Corps, U. S. N 701</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Herman-Perutz Reaction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. V. Genzmer, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 708</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 711</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PREFACE V</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTICE TO SERVICE CONTRIBUTORS VI</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SPECIAL ARTICLES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Color blindness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Captain E. J. Grow, Medical Corps, U. S. N 717</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cardiac irregularity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander E. U. Reed, Medical Corps, U. S. N 732</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Handling of recruits, Marine Barracks, Parris Island.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander J. C. Parham, Medical Corps, U. S. N 740</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Four centuries in the treatment of syphilis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Shaffer, Medical Corps, U. S. N 749</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A Marine Corps field hospital.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Cottle, Medical Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>762</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Training and care of the football squad, U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis,
Md.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant M. H. Roberts, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F 770</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Gas poisoning in warfare.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant G. H. Mankin, Medical Corps, U. S. N 775</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Venereal prophylaxis among U. S. Marines at Honolulu.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. H. Lane, Medical Corps, U. S. N_. 783</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">HISTORICAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Manila Galleon.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander W. M. Kerr, Medical Corps, U. S. N. 787</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">EDITORIAL :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">On learning to write-—On several phases of syphilis 801</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">SUGGESTED DEVICES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Dental X-ray film holder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps. U. S. N_- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggestion for recording dental conditions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N-- 807</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">CLINICAL NOTES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF CUTANEOUS SPOROTRICHOSIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander R. E. Hoyt, Medical Corps, U. S. N 809</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of pellagra in Haiti.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander G. F. Clark, Medical Corps, U. S. N__ 813</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Acute rheumatic fever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant W. M. Alberty, Medical Corps, U. S. N 814</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of poisoning by oil of chenopodium.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant B. F. Norwood, Medical Corps, U. S. N 818</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brushing the teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander H. E. Harvey, Dental Corps, U. S. N<span> </span><span> </span>824</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">TWENTY-EIGHT CASES OF PNEUMONIA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant J. R. Jeffrey, Medical Corps, U. S. N 825</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A CASE OF TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant Commander S. P. Taylor, Medical Corps, U. S. N— 830</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Cholecystectomy <span> </span>and pyelotomy in
Guam.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander A. H. Robnett, Medical Corps, U. S. N 831</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Elephantiasis of the scrotum.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Lieutenant L. W. Breene, Medical Corps, U. S. N., and W. Zur Linden,
chief pharmacist, Medical Corps, U. S. N 884</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rules for massage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">By Commander W. S. Bainbridge, Medical Corps, U. S. N. R. F— 835</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Transfusion of blood—Diabetes mellitus In the Negro
race— Diagnosis of syphilis In malarial subjects —So-called diseases of the
blood— Singultus— The role of the prostate and</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">seminal vesicles in arthritis —Medical aspects of naval aviation — Treating
syphilitics—The etiology of scurvy —Food accessory factors in relation to the
teeth 839</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —Immediate surgery in fighting ships —Immediate surgery of war
wounds as practiced in hospital ships —The surgical treatment of empyema by a
closed method—Willems treatment of</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">knee-joint injuries —Observations on primary venereal sores—Resection
of the small intestine for war wounds —Tetanus in the British Army during the
European War 855</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —New method of treatment of trypanosomiasis — Differential
diagnosis in tropical fevers —Schistosomiasis in the Yangtse Valley—Carriers of
dysenteriae among soldiers —Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 870</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. — Cultivation of gonococcus—Aestivo-autumnal
malaria Plasmodia —Virulence of diphtheria-like organisms 885</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy.—Absorption of calcium salts in man— Improvements
in the Nephelometer-Colorimeter — Substitution of turbidimetry for nephelometry
in certain biochemical methods of analysis— Creatinuria —Phosphoric acid in the
blood of normal infants—Basal metabolism of normal women—Fat-soluble vitamine— Standards
for normal basal metabolism 887</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat.- —Injuries to the ear in modern warfare— Injuries
to the ear in modern warfare— Symptomatology and diagnosis of foreign bodies in
the air and food passages—Etiology and prevention of injuries to the eye
—Mosher-Totl operation on the lachrymal sac —-Tuberculosis of the middle ear
892</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">NOTES AND COMMENTS :</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Colles's Fracture—The French view of an American medical congress —Case
Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital— National cancer week- —
Pharmacopoeia of China —Municipal disposal of garbage—American Journal of
Tropical Medicine —Danger of week-end camping in the Tropics — Influenza
epidemic in the British Navy —Benvenuto Cellini—A Consulting Surgeon in the
Near</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">East—Asphyxiation in Garages —Dental service In the British Navy
—Surgeon Captain Lomas, R. N.—Counsels and Ideals from the Writings of William
Osler —John Keats, apothecary and poet — Life and times of Ambroise
Pare—Treatment of ozena —Lead poisoning in the pottery trade—The International
Journal of Gastro-Enterology— Treatment of malarial fever —Formaldehyde
poisoning — Toxic effects of shaking arsphenamine solution —Peking Union Medical
College —Milk standards 901</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">BOOK NOTICES 921</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">INDEX 983</p>
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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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter
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. A partially submerged hippopotamus tries to keep cool in the hot African sun. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος), is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus.) After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoises, etc.) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.
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; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grass. While hippopotamuses rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and hippos are not territorial on land. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped torso, enormous mouth and teeth, nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. It is the third largest land mammal by weight (between 1½ and 3 tonnes), behind the white rhinoceros (1½ to 3½ tonnes) and the three species of elephant (3 to 9 tonnes). The hippopotamus is one of the largest quadrupeds and despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human. Hippos have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive creatures in the world and is often regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They are still threatened by habitat loss and poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth. There is also a colony of non-zoo hippos in Colombia introduced by Pablo Escobar. The most recent theory of the origins of Hippopotamidae suggests that hippos and whales shared a common semi-aquatic ancestor that branched off from other artiodactyls around 60 million years ago.[13][15] This hypothesized ancestral group likely split into two branches around 54 million years ago.[12] One branch would evolve into cetaceans, possibly beginning about 52 million years ago with the proto-whale Pakicetus and other early whale ancestors collectively known as Archaeoceti, which eventually underwent aquatic adaptation into the completely aquatic cetaceans.[17] The other branch became the anthracotheres, a large family of four-legged beasts, the earliest of whom in the late Eocene would have resembled skinny hippopotamuses with comparatively small and narrow heads. All branches of the anthracotheres, except that which evolved into Hippopotamidae, became extinct during the Pliocene without leaving any descendants.[15]
A rough evolutionary lineage can be traced from Eocene and Oligocene species: Anthracotherium and Elomeryx to the Miocene Merycopotamus and Libycosaurus and the very latest anthracotheres in the Pliocene.[18] Merycopotamus, Libycosaurus and all hippopotamids can be considered to form a clade, with Libycosaurus being more closely related to hippos. Their common ancestor would have lived in the Miocene, about 20 million years ago. Hippopotamids are therefore deeply nested within the family Anthracotheriidae. The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to 8 million years ago. While hippopotamid species spread across Asia and Europe, no hippopotamuses have ever been discovered in the Americas, although various anthracothere genera emigrated into North America during the early Oligocene. From 7.5 to 1.8 million years ago an ancestor to the modern hippopotamus, Archaeopotamus, lived in Africa and the Middle East.[19]
While the fossil record of hippos is still poorly understood, the two modern genera, Hippopotamus and Choeropsis (sometimes Hexaprotodon), may have diverged as far back as 8 million years ago. Taxonomists disagree whether or not the modern Pygmy Hippopotamus is a member of Hexaprotodon —an apparently paraphyletic genus also embracing many extinct Asian hippopotamuses that is more closely related to Hippopotamus, or Choeropsis —an older and basal genus.[18][19]
[edit]Extinct species
Three species of Malagasy Hippopotamus became extinct during the Holocene on Madagascar, one of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy Hippos were smaller than the modern hippopotamus, likely through the process of insular dwarfism.[20] There is fossil evidence that many Malagasy Hippos were hunted by humans, a likely factor in their eventual extinction.[20] Isolated members of Malagasy Hippopotamus may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the Kilopilopitsofy, which may have been a Malagasy Hippopotamus.[21]
Two species of Hippopotamus, the European Hippopotamus (H. antiquus) and H. gorgops ranged throughout continental Europe and the British Isles. Both species became extinct before the last glaciation. Ancestors of European Hippos found their way to many islands of the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.[22] Both species were larger than the modern hippopotamus, averaging about 1 meter (3.3 feet) longer. The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands including Crete (H. creutzburgi), Cyprus (H. minor), Malta (H. melitensis) and Sicily (H. pentlandi). Of these, the Cyprus Dwarf Hippopotamus, survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from an archaeological site Aetokremnos, continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was encountered, and was driven to extinction, by man. Hippopotamuses are among the largest living mammals; only elephants and some rhinoceroses and whales are heavier. They can live in the water or on land. Their specific gravity allows them to sink and walk or run along the bottom of a river. Hippos are considered megafauna, but unlike all other African megafauna, hippos have adapted for a semi-aquatic life in freshwater lakes and rivers.[9]:3 A hippo's lifespan is typically 40–50 years.[6]:277 Donna the Hippo, 60, was the oldest living hippo in captivity. She lived at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, USA[24][25] until her death on August 1, 2012. The oldest hippo ever recorded was called Tanga; she lived in Munich, Germany, and died in 1995 at the age of 61.[26]
Because of their enormous size, hippopotamuses are difficult to weigh in the wild. Most estimates of the weight come from culling operations that were carried out in the 1960s. The average weights for adult males ranged between 1,500–1,800 kg (3,300–4,000 lb). Females are smaller than their male counterparts, with average weights measuring between 1,300–1,500 kg (2,900–3,300 lb).[9]:12 Older males can get much larger, reaching at least 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) with a few exceptional specimens exceeding 3,600 kg (7,900 lb).[27][28] The heaviest known hippopotamus weighed approximately 4,500 kg (9,900 lb).[29] Male hippos appear to continue growing throughout their lives; females reach a maximum weight at around age 25.[30]
Hippos measure 3.3 to 5.2 meters (11 to 17 ft) long, including a tail of about 56 centimeters (22 in) in length and average about 1.5 meters (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.[31][32] The range of hippopotamus sizes overlaps with the range of the white rhinoceros; use of different metrics makes it unclear which is the largest land animal after elephants. Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters. Despite being semi-aquatic and having webbed feet, an adult hippo is not a particularly good swimmer nor can it float. It is rarely found in deep water; when it is, the animal moves by porpoise-like leaps from the bottom. The eyes, ears, and nostrils of hippos are placed high on the roof of the skull. This allows them to be in the water with most of their body submerged in the waters and mud of tropical rivers to stay cool and prevent sunburn. Their skeletal structure is graviportal, adapted to carrying the animals' enormous weight. Hippopotamuses have small legs (relative to other megafauna) because the water in which they live reduces the weight burden. Unlike most other semi-aquatic animals, the hippopotamus has very little hair.[6]:260 The skin is 6 in (15 cm) thick,[33] providing it great protection against conspecifics and predators. The animals's upper parts are purplish-gray to blue-black while the under parts and areas around the eyes and ears can be brownish-pink.[6]:260 The testes of the males descend only partially and a scrotum is not present. In addition, the penis retracts into the body when not erect. The genitals of the female are unusual in that the vagina is ridged and two large diverticula protrude from the vulval vestibule. The function of these is unknown.[9]:28–29
The hippo's jaw is powered by a large masseter and a well developed digastric; the latter loops up behind the former to the hyoid.[6]:259 The jaw hinge is located far back enough to allow the animal to open its mouth at almost 180°.[9]:17 On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite force of an adult female hippo at 8100 N (1821 lbf); Barr also attempted to measure the bite pressure of an adult male hippo, but had to abandon the attempt due to the male's aggressiveness.[34] Hippopotamus teeth sharpen themselves as they grind together. The lower canines and lower incisors are enlarged, especially in males, and grow continuously. The incisors can reach 40 cm (16 in) while the canines reach up to 50 cm (20 in).[33]
Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets, secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. Hippopotamus amphibius was widespread in North Africa and Europe during the Eemian[36] and late Pleistocene until about 30,000 years ago. The species was common in Egypt's Nile region during antiquity but has since been extirpated. Pliny the Elder writes that, in his time, the best location in Egypt for capturing this animal was in the Saite nome;[37] the animal could still be found along the Damietta branch after the Arab Conquest in 639. Hippos are still found in the rivers and lakes of the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, north through to Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, west from Ghana to Gambia, and also in Southern Africa (Botswana, Republic of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique). Genetic evidence suggests that common hippos in Africa experienced a marked population expansion during or after the Pleistocene Epoch, attributed to an increase in water bodies at the end of the era. These findings have important conservation implications as hippo populations across the continent are currently threatened by loss of access to fresh water.[10] Hippos are also subject to unregulated hunting and poaching. In May 2006 the hippopotamus was identified as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List drawn up by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with an estimated population of between 125,000 and 150,000 hippos, a decline of between 7% and 20% since the IUCN's 1996 study. Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000–30,000) possess the largest populations.[1]
The hippo population declined most dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[38] The population in Virunga National Park had dropped to 800 or 900 from around 29,000 in the mid 1970s.[39] The decline is attributed to the disruptions caused by the Second Congo War.[39] The poachers are believed to be former Hutu rebels, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, and local militia groups.[39] Reasons for poaching include the belief that hippos are harmful to society, and also for money.[40] The sale of hippo meat is illegal, but black-market sales are difficult for Virunga National Park officers to track. Invasive potential
In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar kept four hippos in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Napoles, 100 km east of Medellín, Colombia, after buying them in New Orleans. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's fall, and hence left on the untended estate. By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[41] In 2009, two adults and one calf escaped the herd, and after attacking humans and killing cattle, one of the adults (called "Pepe") was killed by hunters under authorization of the local authorities.[42][43] It is unknown what kind of effects the presence of hippos might have on the ecosystem in Colombia. According to experts interviewed by W Radio Colombia, the animals could survive in the Colombian jungles. It is believed that the lack of control from the Colombian government, which is not used to dealing with this species, could result in human fatalities. Hippos spend most of their days wallowing in the water or the mud, with the other members of their pod. The water serves to keep their body temperature down, and to keep their skin from drying out. With the exception of eating, most of hippopotamuses' lives —from childbirth, fighting with other hippos, to reproduction— occur in the water. Hippos leave the water at dusk and travel inland, sometimes up to 8 kilometers (5 mi), to graze on short grass, their main source of food. They spend four to five hours grazing and can consume 68 kilograms (150 lb) of grass each night.[44] Like almost any herbivore, they will consume many other plants if presented with them, but their diet in nature consists almost entirely of grass, with only minimal consumption of aquatic plants.[45] Hippos have (rarely) been filmed eating carrion, usually close to the water. There are other reports of meat-eating, and even cannibalism and predation.[46] The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory, and meat-eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress.[9]:84
The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses, even though they spend most of their time in the water. Most of their defecation occurs in the water, creating allochthonous deposits of organic matter along the river beds. These deposits have an unclear ecological function.[45] Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths to feed, hippos can have a significant impact on the land they walk across, both by keeping the land clear of vegetation and depressing the ground. Over prolonged periods hippos can divert the paths of swamps and channels.[47]
Adult hippos move at speeds up to 8 km/h (5 mph) in water. Adult hippos typically resurface to breathe every three to five minutes. The young have to breathe every two to three minutes.[9]:4 The process of surfacing and breathing is automatic, and even a hippo sleeping underwater will rise and breathe without waking. A hippo closes its nostrils when it submerges into the water. As with fish and turtles on a coral reef, hippo occasionally visit cleaning stations and signal by wide-open mouth their readiness for being cleaned of parasites by certain species of fish. This situation is an example of mutualism in which the hippo benefits from the cleansing while the fish receive food.[ Studying the interaction of male and female hippopotamuses has long been complicated by the fact that hippos are not sexually dimorphic and thus females and young males are almost indistinguishable in the field.[49] Although hippos like to lie close to each other, they do not seem to form social bonds except between mothers and daughters, and are not social animals. The reason they huddle close together is unknown.[9]:49
Hippopotamuses are territorial only in water, where a bull presides over a small stretch of river, on average 250 meters in length, and containing ten females. The largest pods can contain over 100 hippos.[9]:50 Other bachelors are allowed in a bull's stretch, as long as they behave submissively toward the bull. The territories of hippos exist to establish mating rights. Within the pods, the hippos tend to segregate by gender. Bachelors will lounge near other bachelors, females with other females, and the bull on his own. When hippos emerge from the water to graze, they do so individually.[9]:4
Hippopotamuses appear to communicate verbally, through grunts and bellows, and it is thought that they may practice echolocation, but the purpose of these vocalizations is currently unknown. Hippos have the unique ability to hold their head partially above the water and send out a cry that travels through both water and air; hippos above and under water will respond.[ Female hippos reach sexual maturity at five to six years of age and have a gestation period of 8 months. A study of endocrine systems revealed that female hippopotamuses may begin puberty as early as 3 or 4 years of age.[51] Males reach maturity at around 7.5 years. A study of hippopotamus reproductive behavior in Uganda showed that peak conceptions occurred during the end of the wet season in the summer, and peak births occurred toward the beginning of the wet season in late winter. This is because of the female's estrous cycle; as with most large mammals, male hippopotamus spermatozoa is active year round. Studies of hippos in Zambia and South Africa also showed evidence of births occurring at the start of the wet season.[9]:60–61 After becoming pregnant, a female hippopotamus will typically not begin ovulation again for 17 months.[51]
Mating occurs in the water with the female submerged for most of the encounter,[9]:63 her head emerging periodically to draw breath. Baby hippos are born underwater at a weight between 25 and 45 kg (60–110 lb) and an average length of around 127 cm (50 in) and must swim to the surface to take their first breath. A mother typically gives birth to only one hippo, although twins also occur. The young often rest on their mothers' backs when in water that is too deep for them, and they swim underwater to suckle. They also will suckle on land when the mother leaves the water. Weaning starts between six and eight months after birth and most calves are fully weaned after a year.[9]:64 Like many other large mammals, hippos are described as K-strategists, in this case typically producing just one large, well-developed infant every couple of years (rather than large numbers of small, poorly developed young several times per year as is common among small mammals such as rodents. 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.[53] Hippos are very aggressive towards humans, whom they commonly attack whether in boats or on land with no apparent provocation.[54] They are widely considered to be one of the most dangerous large animals in Africa.[55][56]
To mark territory, hippos spin their tails while defecating to distribute their excrement over a greater area.[57] Likely for the same reason, hippos are retromingent – that is, they urinate backwards.[58] When in combat, male hippos use their incisors to block each others attacks, and their lower canines to inflict damage.[6]:260 Hippos rarely kill each other, even in territorial challenges. Usually a territorial bull and a challenging bachelor will stop fighting when it is clear that one hippo is stronger. When hippos become overpopulated, or when a habitat starts to shrink, bulls will sometimes attempt to kill infants, but this behavior is not common under normal conditions.[52] Some incidents of hippo cannibalism have been documented, but it is believed to be the behavior of distressed or sick hippos, and not healthy behavior. The earliest evidence of human interaction with hippos comes from butchery cut marks upon hippo bones at Bouri Formation dated around 160,000 years ago.[59] Later rock paintings and engravings showing hippos being hunted have been found in the mountains of the central Sahara dated 4,000–5,000 years ago near Djanet in the Tassili n'Ajjer Mountains.[9]:1 The ancient Egyptians recognized the hippo as a ferocious denizen of the Nile.
The hippopotamus was also known to the Greeks and Romans. The Greek historian Herodotus described the hippopotamus in The Histories (written circa 440 BC) and the Roman Historian Pliny the Elder wrote about the hippopotamus in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia (written circa 77 AD).[37][60] Hippopotamus was one of the many exotic animals brought to fight gladiators in Rome by the emperor Philip I the Arab to commemorate Rome's 1000 years anniversary in 248 AD. Silver coins with hippo's image were minted that year.[citation needed]
Zulu warriors preferred to be as brave as a hippopotamus, since even lions were not considered as brave. "In 1888, Captain Baden-Powell was part of a column searching for the Zulu chief Dinizulu, who was leading the Usutu people in revolt against the British colonists. The column was joined by John Dunn, a white Zulu chief, who led an impi (army) of 2000 Zulu warriors to join the British." [61]
The words of the Zulu anthem sounded like this:
"Een-gonyama Gonyama! "Invooboo! Yah-bo! Yah-bo! Invooboo!"
"John Dunn was at the head of his impi. [Baden Powell] asked him to translate the Zulu anthem his men had been singing. Dunn laughed and replied: "He is a lion. Yes, he is better than a lion—he is a hippopotamus. Hippopotamuses have long been popular zoo animals. The first zoo hippo in modern history was Obaysch who arrived at the London Zoo on May 25, 1850, where he attracted up to 10,000 visitors a day and inspired a popular song, the Hippopotamus Polka.[63] Hippos have remained popular zoo animals since Obaysch, and generally breed well in captivity. Their birth rates are lower than in the wild, but this is attributed to zoos' not wanting to breed as many hippos as possible, since hippos are large and relatively expensive animals to maintain.[9]:129[63]
Like many zoo animals, hippos were traditionally displayed in concrete exhibits. In the case of hippos, they usually had a pool of water and patch of grass. In the 1980s, zoo designers increasingly designed exhibits that reflected the animals' native habitats. The best known of these, the Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium, features a 360,000 gallon pool for hippos.[64] In 1987, researchers were able to tape, for the first time, an underwater birth (as in the wild) at the Toledo Zoo. The exhibit was so popular that the hippos became the logo of the Toledo Zoo. A red hippo represented the Ancient Egyptian god Set; the thigh is the 'phallic leg of set' symbolic of virility. Set's consort Tawaret was also seen as part hippo.[66] The hippopotamus-headed Tawaret was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, because ancient Egyptians recognized the protective nature of a female hippopotamus toward her young.[67] The Ijo people wore masks of aquatic animals like the hippo when practicing their water spirit cults.[68] The Behemoth from the Book of Job, 40:15–24 is also thought to be based on a hippo.[69]
Hippos have been the subjects of various African folktales. According to a Bushmen story; when the Creator assigned each animal their place in nature, the hippos wanted to live in the water, but were refused out of fear that they might eat all the fish. After begging and pleading, the hippos were finally allowed to live in the water on the conditions that they would eat grass instead of fish and would fling their dung so that it can be inspected for fish bones.[70] In a Ndebele tale, the hippo originally had long, beautiful hair but was set on fire by a jealous hare and had to jump into a nearby pool. The hippo lost most of his hair and was too embarrassed to leave the water.[70]
Ever since Obaysch inspired the Hippopotamus Polka, hippos have been popular animals in Western culture for their rotund appearance that many consider comical.[63] Stories of hippos like Huberta who became a celebrity in South Africa in the 1930s for trekking across the country;[71] or the tale of Owen and Mzee, a hippo and tortoise who developed an intimate bond; have amused people who have bought hippo books, merchandise, and many a stuffed hippo toy.[72][73] Hippos were mentioned in the novelty Christmas song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that became a hit for child star Gayla Peevey in 1953.[74] They also feature in the songs "The Hippopotamus" and "Hippo Encore" by Flanders and Swann, with the famous refrain Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud. They even inspired a popular board game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hippos have also been popular cartoon characters, where their rotund frame is used for humorous effect. The Disney film Fantasia featured a ballerina hippopotamus dancing to the opera, La Gioconda.[38] Other cartoon hippos have included Hanna-Barbera's Peter Potamus, the book and TV series George and Martha, Flavio and Marita on the Animaniacs, Pat of the French duo Pat et Stanley, The Backyardigan's Tasha, and Gloria and Moto-Moto from the Madagascar franchise. A Sesame Street cartoon from the early 1970s features a hippo who lives in the country and likes it quiet, while being disturbed when the mouse who likes it loud moves in with her.[citation needed]
The hippopotamus characters "Happy Hippos" were created in 1988 by the French designer Andre Roche [77] based in Munich, to be hidden in the "Kinder Surprise egg" of the Italian chocolate company Ferrero SpA. These characters were not placid like real hippos[contradiction] but rather cute and lively, and had such a success that they reappeared several times in different products of this company in the following years, increasing their popularity worldwide each time.[citation needed] The Nintendo Company published in the years 2001 and 2007 Game Boy adventures of them. In the game of chess, the hippopotamus lends its name to the Hippopotamus Defense, an opening system, which is generally considered weak.The River Horse is a popular outdoor sculpture at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Botswana, Moremi National Park, Moremi Game reserve, private Reserve, Farm, chobe National park, Chobe Game Reserve, Zambia, Zambezi River, Livingstone, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Wildlife Conservation Project, Maramba River Lodge, South Africa, Krugger National Park. art beach blue bw california canada canon china city concert de england europe family festival film flower flowers food france friends green instagramapp iphoneography italy japan live london music nature new newyork night nikon nyc paris park party people photography portrait red sky snow square squareformat street summer sunset travel trip uk usa vacation water wedding white winter