[Bloofington]

The burgeoning fascination continues.

Just a little less than a year after the debut of Hippo Beach!! on PBS, Animal Planet is coming at us with a hippo show tonight, less than an hour from now if you're in the East, at 2200 hours (10 p.m.).

This animal that weighs more than your SUV and can run a 400 alongside Jeremy Wariner and gets respect even from the Boss elephants when they have to cross through the water. I always thought that hippos were laughing when they opened their mouths wide. I didn't notice those two gigantic over foot long teeth at the bottom, and the shorter teeth alongside them that can slice a crocodile in half when the hippo closes its mouth and the scissor action goes to work.

If a hippo ever laughs at you, . . .

START RUNNING!!!

And hope you can do the 400 like Michael Johnson.

mg:

 

[jar]

I want a hippopotomus for Christmas
only a hippopotomus will do.
No crocodiles, or ri-nos-serouses.
All I like
are hippopotomuses.
And hippopotomuses like me too!

 

[Bloofington]

 

[Bloofington]

By the way, the show was great last night. If you get emotionally attached to certain aspects, then the show indeed had it's sad moments, but that's the natural world. In the natural world, one animal's or group of animals' "sadness" is another's, or another group's good fortune, so you have to expect to see certain things in a nature show.

On the whole, I felt that the show provided a somewhat different angle than PBS' Hippo Beach!!, being more action oriented, and perhaps even better researched. The only point of contention with Hippo Beach!! seemed to be that Hippo Beach!! and it's accompanying web site claim that hippos can reach speeds of 18-20 miles per hour, while last night's show said that they have been clocked at 30 mph in a sprint, which means that they can be running ahead of the world's fastest men in the 100 meter dash. :shock:

Both shows assign a weight of about 6,000 pounds to the Boss Hippo during his prime, although they have been known to reach over 8,000 pounds. Indeed, the new Boss Hippo, introduced near the end of the show, was indeed bigger than the main character in the show.

This business with the tails flicking back and forth making dung fly all over the place is weird and hilarious. It seems to me that hippos just poop all day long. There's no set time, it's just always coming out, kind of like a cement mixer. :shock: