Endangered
Cetartiodactyla Week
Species #445 total
One of the best ways to give you and idea what these hippos are like is by comparing them to the common hippo that everyone knows. These only weigh up to a maximum of 606 pounds (well, I'm sure one could end up heavier but that is the largest known), and they are up to 5 feet long. The largest common hippo can be nearly 6,000 pounds in the wild, and in captivity there has been one that was close to 10,000 pounds! The common hippo is also a lot longer with the biggest ones being a little over 16 1/2 feet long. The nostrils on this hippo do not stick up as much as they do for a common hippo either. These do not like to live in large groups the way the common hippo does. A group of hippos is called a bloat by the way. The pygmy hippo tends to either live alone or in groups of 2 or 3. There are thought to be somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 of these remaining in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire. Their forests are being logges and settled, so habitat loss is the biggest threat by far. They are also poached for bushmeat, especially in Liberia. The conflicts in the areas are assumed to have been detrimental to the population numbers, but to an unknown extent.
I figured I might as well stop the project on a favourite animal of mine. I would have been painting it next week, but I'm happy to be doing it today. I am heartsick, and feel as if I am abandoning hundreds of animals that need attention. Family comes first though. It isn't as if I was really accomplishing much other than learning about the animals myself. I had hoped I would be able to contribute by now to the conservation efforts for at least some of the species that I've painted or drawn. I am going to take a complete break from social media now and then when I am able to I will hopefully finish the project if only to say I have finished it. I may post on here once in a while, but will be going silent for a while. I'm sorry, I feel I have let people and the animals down, but I have to stop for now.