The Grass Doctor

Because of their size and their habit of taking the same paths

Summary: 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 deposits of organic matter along the river beds These deposits have an unclear ecological function The diet of hippos consists mostly of terrestrial grasses but they spend most of their time in the water Most of their defecation occurs in the water creating The stomach anatomy of a hippo is not suited to carnivory and meat eating is likely caused by aberrant behavior or nutritional stress and usually close to the water There are other reports of meat eating and even Hippos have rarely been filmed eating 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

Image Dimensions: 180 x 120