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A Weighty Question
Everyone agrees that the elephant is the largest living land animal, by weight, in the world. But which land animal is the second largest? Is it the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or the White rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum)?
How this page is organized
This page is divided into four sections:
This section lists those sources which state that the hippopotamus is the second-largest land animal.
A list of sources which place the White rhinoceros in the Number Two position.
This section, thrown in just to be provocative, considers the burning question "If a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus got into a fight, which one would win?"
I finally got a response to this page from a devoted rhino fan. In this section we share our thoughts on various Hippo/Rhino issues.
Part 1: Hip Hippo Hooray!
In weight, the hippo is the second largest land mammal. Elephants are the biggest. In body size, the hippo is the third biggest land mammal. A white rhino can be larger, but weighs less than a hippo.
[M]ature hippos may reach twelve or fourteen feet in length, measuring five feet tall at the shoulder and weighing over three tons. Some bulls may even exceed eight thousand pounds, far outweighing the taller and longer white rhino which is usually accepted as the world's second largest land mammal. The question could be argued endlessly, but I don't see any need for it. Let the rhino be second and Kiboko can be third largest, with a special consolation prize--the newly created title "world's fattest land mammal."
With the exception of the elephant, Hippopotamus amphibius is the largest living land animal and may weigh more than 3,600 kg (8,000 lb). It may be 4.3 m (14 ft) long and measure 1.5 m (5 ft) tall at the shoulder.
With bulls growing up to 15 feet long, 5 feet high and 8,000 pounds in weight, hippos are the second-largest terrestrial mammals. Only elephants are larger.
The adult common hippopotamus can reach a length of fifteen feet and weigh between four and five tons, which makes it the largest land mammal after the elephant.
Among the land giants, the hippopotamus ranks second in weight only to the elephant. A full-grown male may be 15 feet long and, although only five feet high, weigh 8,000 pounds. He is almost as big around as he is long, with short, heavy legs and a massive head.
The common hippopotamus (H. amphibius) is the largest of land animals except the elephant. It attains a length of 14 ft., and the height at the shoulder is about 4 ft. A fine male will weigh from four to five tons.
The next largest land animal [after the elephant] is considered by some to be the rhinoceros, but there have been cases where a hippopotamus, which is a shorter animal than the rhinoceros, weighed more. One such hippopotamus weighed 8,600 pounds.
The hippopotamus is the second largest land-living animal, by weight, in the world. The average specimen weighs about four tons; some individuals, as much as five. The massive head alone may weigh a ton. The animal is from twelve to fourteen feet in length and stands about four and a half feet at the shoulder.
Old "hippo" is an extremely odd-looking fellow. Although not quite so big as a rhinoceros, he is actually heavier. His huge, bulky body looks like nothing quite so much as a barrel on four legs; and if we weigh him, we shall find that he turns the scale somewhere between three and four tons.
After the elephant, the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus are rivals for the next place among the giants in the animal world. The "hippo" is the heavier, bulkier animal, but the "rhino" is the taller of the two; so there is little to choose between them.
Hippos don't eat people. Hippos are plant eaters, but they weigh up to 10,000 pounds, and they are not very good-natured. People who know the hippo avoid getting too close.
The only land animals that outweigh a big hippo are the African and Indian elephants.
White rhinoceros
Ceratotherium simum
White or Square-lipped rhinoceros.
S and NE Africa. Drier savannas; grazer; both diurnal and nocturnal.
Male HBL 145-160in; Ht 67-73in; TL 27 in; AH 16-47in; PH 6-16in; Wt up to 5,070lb.
Female HBL 135-144in; Ht 63-70in; AH 20-65in; PH 6-16in; Wt up to 3,750lb.
Coat: neutral gray, varying with soil color; almost hairless. Gestation: 16 months. Longevity: 45 years.Hippopotamus
Hippopotamus amphibius
Distribution: W, C, E and S Africa.
Habitat: short grasslands (night); wallows, rivers, lakes (day).
Size: head-body length 10.8-11.3ft (3.3-3.45m); height 4.6ft (1.4m); weight male 3,525-7,055lb (1,600-3,200kg); female 3,086lb (1,400kg).
Skin: upper part of body gray-brown to blue-black; lower part pinkish; albinos are bright pink.
Gestation: about 240 days.
Longevity: about 45 years (49 recorded in captivity).
Return to How This Page Is OrganizedThere are five living types (or species) of rhinos: the White, Black, Indian, Javan and Sumatran. The largest of all is probably the White rhino. These magnificent creatures can grow larger than any other land mammals, except elephants. A fully grown White rhino may stand 6 feet tall at the shoulder (183 centimeters) and it can weigh almost 8 thousand pounds (3600 kilograms). That means it can weigh as much as 50 average-size men.
The common hippo is the third largest land mammal in the world. It weighs almost as much as the White rhinoceros.
[T]he huge White or Square-lipped Rhinoceros (Diceros simus) is second only to the elephant in size. It is more placid in temperament than the smaller Black Rhinoceros.
RHINOCEROS...the second-largest land mammal alive today. The rhinoceros has a massive head, short neck, broad chest, and stout, thick-set body.
The hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal in the world; only the elephant and rhinoceros are bigger.
rhinoceros The second largest land animal (after the elephant), native to S and SE Asia; a perissodactyl mammal of the family Rhinocerotidae; skin tough, usually with few hairs; long head with small eyes placed well forward; nose with 'horn(s)' made from fibrous outgrowths of the skin; five species: Indian (or greater one-horned) rhinoceros, with stud-like lumps on skin; Javan (or lesser one-horned) rhinoceros, with smoother skin; Sumatran (or Asian two-horned) rhinoceros, with a covering of red-brown hair; African black (or hook-lipped) rhinoceros and African white (or square-lipped) rhinoceros, both with two horns; many extinct species; also known as rhino.
Also called ceratotherium, the white rhinoceros is the largest of all land mammals except the elephant; it stands 6½ ft (200 cm) at the shoulder and weighs 3 to 4 tons (2,700-3,600 kg).[Note: This same reference book lists the hippo's weight as 5 tons.]
Return to How This Page Is OrganizedBeing the major hippo fan that I am, I would root for the hippopotamus. And before you shout "No way, Jose!" I would ask you to consider this excerpt from Bernhard Grzimek's essay "The African Black Rhinoceros," which appeared in Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 1972, XIII, 57-58:
Guggisberg once watched a rhinoceros about to drink from a clear spring-fed pond in the Tsavo National Park. There a hippopotamus surfaced, grabbed the rhino's right front leg, pulled him down, and tore him to pieces with his huge tusks.I'm not suggesting that this one anecdote settles the question once and for all. After all, the rhino in question was a Black rhino, which is considerably smaller than the White rhino. However, it does provide some food for thought, doesn't it?
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Revised 12 January 1999
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