12 Baby Hippo Pictures That Will Make You Smile In Ways You Never Knew Possible

The rare pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis, also known as Choeropsis liberiensis), the other living species of the family Hippopotamidae, is about the size of a domestic pig. The pygmy hippo is less aquatic than its larger relative, although, when pursued, it hides in water. Less gregarious, it is seen alone or with one or two others in the lowland tropical forests of Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, along streams and in wet forests and swamps. Liberians call it a water cow. It eats some grasses and also fresh leaves of trees and bushes, herbs, and fallen fruits. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified the pygmy hippopotamus as endangered since 2006.