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What animal family do hippos belong to?
Hippopotamuses
Hippopotamus/Family
Do hippos eat people?
The hippopotamus. BBC News reports that the hippo is the world’s largest land mammal killer. It’s estimated that the aggressive animal with sharp teeth kills 500 people a year in Africa. Hippos can crush a human to death with their weight ranging anywhere from 3,000 to 9,000 pounds.
Does a hippo belong to the pig family?
Hippopotamus is the type genus of the family Hippopotamidae. Hippopotamidae are classified along with other even-toed ungulates in the order Artiodactyla. Other artiodactyls include camels, cattle, deer and pigs, although hippos are not closely related to these groups.
The name “hippopotamus” comes from a Greek word meaning “water horse” or “river horse.” But hippos are not related to horses at all—in fact, their closest living relatives may be pigs or whales and dolphins! There are two species of hippopotamus: the river, or common, hippo and the much smaller pygmy hippo.
What animal causes the most deaths per year?
Mosquitoes
Deadliest creatures worldwide by annual number of human deaths as of 2018
| Characteristic | Annual number of human deaths |
|---|---|
| Mosquitoes | 750,000 |
| Humans | 437,000 |
| Snakes | 100,000 |
| Dogs | 35,000 |
What animals are closely related to pigs?
Pigs are closely related to the peccaries (family Tayassuidae) and hippopotamuses (family Hippopotamidae). The natural distribution of pigs includes Africa, Europe, and Asia, but one species, the domestic pig (Sus scrofa), is now found almost worldwide as a domestic and feral species.
Can hippos be friendly?
Despite occasional run-ins with the humans in the area, the hippos peacefully co-exist with other large herbivores like elephants and water buffalos. “They are friendly because they are all grass-eaters. The buffalos cannot even fight a hippo; the hippo also cannot fight a buffalo, because they are all grass-eaters.