Heropotamus

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After reading about the adventures of Heropotamus, Hippo wants a mask and cape of his own.

Mystery of Henrietta the Hippo

Hippo wonders who asked for a 200-pound pink hippopotamus for Christmas.


A fiberglass hippo named Henrietta retired from a children's zoo to El Dorado Hills, California. But now she's gone missing!

Fiberglass Hippo Stolen From Home

Hippo hopes it was just Santa's elves who took her back to his workshop to fix her fountain and patch her paint.

Hippo Claus

This is Opie's first Christmas with our clan. The other hippos have been telling him about all the exciting activities this season brings: Hunting for a 12-inch Christmas tree. Decking the halls with penguins. Advent calendars filled with chocolate. Cutting out cookies shaped like stars and sheep. Beautiful lights at the zoo. And a visit from a jolly elf in a red suit!

We were surprised when Santa Claus made a personal appearance at our home one night, far ahead of Christmas Eve. He invited Opie to sit on his lap and telling what a good hippopotamus he has been all year.


Opie was a little shy but thrilled to meet the big guy (who must have magically shrunk himself to little hippo size). Opie did comment that Santa Claus sounded a little different than he expected. Instead of "Ho! Ho! Ho!", Santa went more like "Giggle. Giggle. Oof! Snicker. Giggle." when Opie sat on his lap.

Hippo says he knows just what to get Opie this year. What a thoughtful friend!

Frankie Likes To Spin

Squeaky

Hippo's friend Squeaky wrote to tell him about how she spends autumn in Michigan:

Squeaky enjoys reading about Hippo's adventures – they make her laugh and squeak.

She likes to garden and harvest grapes at the end of the season.

She turns apples into apple butter.

To send to all her friends.

When Squeaky makes cookies, she makes some little hippo sized ones.

She enjoys playing beautiful music.

And she likes to pet big kitties.

She's very handy, especially at fixing little parts.

Squeaky likes to go for drives through the countryside.

But she doesn't like having car problems. Where did we put the gas?

Have some apple pie, it'll make everything better.

Squeaky Loves Hippo.

Old Milwaukee

One Hippo's loss is another hippo's gain. Washington, D.C.'s Happy the Hippo is headed to Milwaukee.


Happy needed to move out since his current building at the National Zoo is being renovated to expand the elephant habitat. But it's not all sad – Happy has several amenities to enjoy at his new home including:

• Heated floors
• Swimming pool
• Shower
• Two female roomates: Patty and Puddles

Hippo hopes to make a trip to Milwaukee after the move to keep in touch with his Great Uncle (and maybe enjoy his fancy facilities).

Drawing Lesson

Hippo likes to draw and color. He especially likes animal coloring books. They help him imagine what a panda would look like with blue fur or how much easier it would be to find the wallabies if they were bright pink with orange polka dots.

But most of the coloring books from the zoo have only page of hippopotamuses. That's not nearly enough for Hippo to test out all the wardrobes he has in mind. So Hippo searched for a way to make his own hippos to color.


These instructions at DragoArt.com explain how to draw a hippo in seven easy steps.

Hippypotamus

Hippo enjoys being chauffeured around in our car, but now he thinks he'd like to try going bike riding. Especially if he can paint the bike pink, yellow and green like this one. It's called the Hippypotamus and it was spotted in a race for kinetic sculptures in California.

A Hippo for Hope

A plaque on the campus of The George Washington University in Washington, DC reads:

GW'S RIVER HORSE

Legend has it that the Potomac was once home to these wondrous beasts. George and Martha Washington are even said to have watched them cavort in the river shallows from the porch of their beloved Mount Vernon on summer evenings. Credited with enhancing the fertility of the plantation, the Washingtons believed the hippopotamus brought them good luck and children on the estate often attempted to lure the creatures close enough to the shore to touch a nose for good luck.

So, too, may generations of students of The George Washington University.

Art for wisdom,

Science for joy,

Politics for beauty,

And a Hippo for hope.

Alongside is this lovely bronze hippopotamus. Hippo whispered something in his ear, eliciting a brassy guffaw. I didn't get what was so funny. It must have been hippo humor.

Flodhäst i vardagsrummet

Hippo learned a new phrase today from a fan in Sweden:

Flodhäst i vardagsrummet

It means "hippopotamus in the living room", as in a thing that everyone can see but no one admits is there. Hippo doesn't understand how anyone can ignore a hippopotamus, especially one as cute as him.


This is a Barnslig Flodhäst soft toy from IKEA. It must get cold up there if hippopotamuses have to wear stripy socks to stay warm. I wonder what the hippos do if their pools freeze over.

Holly

Hippo's new friend Holly sent holiday greetings from snowy Ann Arbor, Michigan.

She wanted to show Hippo what the University of Michigan campus looks like in cold weather. There's a definite lack of salsa dancing hippopotamuses on the plaza.

But Triton and the kids are still playing in the fountain.

Holly tried to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

Then she warmed up with a fresh Mexican lunch.

Holly nuzzled a puma on the way into the Exhibit Museum of Natural History.

There she learned how hippopotamuses are related to whales. An animal called Artiodactyl began adapting to an aquatic habitat 55 million years ago. Some of its descendants evolved into swimming hunters which later became whales and dolphins. Others evolved into wading grazers like the hippopotamus.

Holly is a beautiful example of Hippopotamus amphibius.

She left an impression on Ann Arbor by making hippo prints in the snow.

Lucky Baby Hippo

I was reading the news, and I came across this article about a very lucky and adorable baby Pygmy Hippo!



Monifa, whose name means "I am lucky" in Nigerian, was born after a very difficult breach birth, and might have died if the dedicated staff at the Taronga Zoo in Australia hadn't stepped in. They stayed with her around the clock keeping her from getting lonely and scared, keeping her safe, teaching her to eat (very important for a growing hippo!), and teaching her to walk--all the things good Hippo parents do for their Hippo kids.

She is still tiny, but she is now double her birth size and playful. She really seems to enjoy bathtime, and even does somersaults in the water!



She is really cute, but I bet she'll be embarrassed by those baby bathtime pictures when she is older. You can see more cute baby pictures here

I'm just glad nobody took pictures of me taking a bath! ...or maybe they did!



How humiliating.

Trick or Treat?

When these guys knock on your door and ask "Trick or Treat?"which would you choose?







Now we know why Hippo eyed that Zoolights pumpkin so fondly.

Hipboopotamus

As October ripens, the sun is setting sooner and the air is turning chillier. That means long nights of howling wind and clanking radiators. So I didn't think much when my reading was interrupted by clanks and howls last night.

But the ruckus was accompanied by an eerie glow down the hallway, so I decided to investigate. There I was startled to see this frightening apparition!


Usually Hippo would be squeezing my hand hard in such a scary situation. But he was nowhere to be seen, so he must have been hiding safely under a blanket.

House Hippo

Last night, Hippo and I fell asleep watching an old movie on TV. I woke up to the sound of rustling and saw sticky hoof prints leading away from my plate of peanut butter on toast. Hippo was still asleep on his pillow and his paws were clean, so I knew it wasn't him.

I tracked the hoof prints into the kitchen and noticed a pile of mittens and dust bunnies behind the wine rack. When I reached to move them, I saw what seemed to be a tiny hippopotamus! It quickly ran under the cupboard and behind the refrigerator.

After confirming that Hippo was still snoozing innocently, I did a little Googling and discovered this nature documentary:


Hippo is planning to camp out in the kitchen tonight with a bag of chips and a flashlight to see if he can make a new friend.

George Washington University

Hippo likes watching football and other sports. Many teams have animal mascots like the Michigan Wolverines and Detroit Lions. Hippo wondered why nobody had thought of choosing a really great animal mascot – Hippopotamus amphibius.

Well, last weekend Hippo learned that somebody did, and they're right in his own backyard! George Washington University has had an unofficial hippo mascot since 2001 when this statue was erected at 21st and H Street NW.


Unfortunately, the bosses at GWU decided that making the hippo their official mascot was too problematic. John Och explains: "We regulate marks and logos that we own as a university. But from a legal perspective, we don't have any recourse to regulate the hippo." I know what he means – I have trouble regulating my hippo every day.

Fortunately, the hippo will remain as an unofficial mascot. The GW Bookstore announced that it will continue to sell hippo apparel. Hippo might go shopping there for fall fashions, though he tries to dress a bit smarter than this fellow.

Flanders and Swann: Hippopotamus Song

Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!
So follow me, follow
Down to the hollow
And there let us wallow
In glorious mud

Hippo learned this song today from Flanders and Swann. It's about a boy hippopotamus who serenades a beautiful hippopotamus maid. She swoons for the song and joins him in the cool river Shalimar, diving and splooshing in happiness. But later, when the boy hippo is a dad, he wonders whether it was such a good idea after all.



If you know how to read the music, then you can sing to your love too!

How to pack a hippo

The United States Postal Service has some handy instructions for movers on how to pack their valuable belongings. Included, of course, is How To Pack Hippos:

The packing list includes: 1,000-gallon tank (per hippo), crane, 1-pound sedative, soothing hippo music, and two aspirin (for you).

Hippo prefers to travel by chauffeur. His packing list includes hat, sunglasses, rain poncho, swimming trunk, cookies, and a book.

Elephant music

A Hippofan tipped us to a cool musical instrument: a super-size elephant xylophone.

Elephant Musicians, Thailand

Hippo would love to hear an elephant concert one day. Maybe they will let him guest conduct. Or he could accompany them on marimba, sousaphone, and bass drum.

Cherry blossom

A gentle hippo peers out from the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC.