Hippopotamus - Hippopotamus amphibius

One of the most dangerous animals on the African continent comes in the form of this bullish beast of the water. It is the third largest land mammal, although it spends a lot of its time in the water. There is only one other species in the family of  Hippopotamidae and the closest other relative are whales and dolphins. 

Hippos leave the water at night and go onto land to feed on grass for the most part of their diet. 

They are listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Redlist. They face a number of threat but the biggest being habitat loss and poaching, for their meat and ivory.