Adopt a Hippo

Hippos are disappearing from Africa’s rivers and wetlands. Fewer than 130,000 hippos are thought to remain in the wild. In West Africa, where populations are particularly small and fragmented, numbers are estimated to have fallen by 12% over the past decade. Their much smaller relative, the pygmy hippo, may number no more than 3,000. 

Across Africa, hippos are losing the rivers, wetlands and surrounding grasslands they depend upon. Habitat loss and degradation, mining and water pollution are placing populations under growing pressure, while common hippos are also hunted for their meat and canine teeth, which are traded as ivory.

As people and hippos are brought into closer contact around shared land and water, conflict creates a further threat to their survival.

How your hippo adoption helps overseas

Hippos live within the Lésio-Louna Reserve in the Republic of Congo, where The Aspinall Foundation helps protect wildlife and the habitats they depend upon.

Ranger patrols play a vital role in deterring poaching, illegal hunting and fishing across the reserve. By maintaining a regular presence and responding to signs of illegal activity, teams help make the landscape safer for hippos and many other wild species.

Camera traps and sightings recorded during patrols also allow us to monitor hippos and build a clearer picture of how wildlife populations are changing. These encouraging records suggest that long-term protection is helping create the conditions hippos need to survive and recover.

Adopt a hippo with The Aspinall Foundation and help protect wild populations from poaching while safeguarding the rivers, wetlands and grasslands they need to thrive.

Fun facts about hippos

• A hippo’s eyes, ears and nostrils sit high on its head, allowing it to see, hear and breathe while most of its body remains underwater.
• Despite spending much of their lives in water, common hippos do not swim in the usual sense. Instead, they walk along the riverbed or push off the bottom to move through the water.
• Adult common hippos can hold their breath for five minutes or longer. They can even surface to breathe while sleeping without fully waking up.
• Hippos produce a reddish, oily secretion that helps keep their sensitive skin moist and offers protection from the sun and some germs. Despite its appearance, it is not blood.
• Common hippo calves can feed from their mothers both on land and underwater.
• Common hippos usually leave the water after sunset to graze and may travel several miles in search of food.
• By carrying nutrients from the land and releasing them into rivers and lakes, common hippos can play an important role in the ecosystems around them.