Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Surfing hippos (yes, really)

Maybe "Charlie doesn't surf!" But hippos living at the seaside apparently do. As Karl Shuker tells us, hippos are known to body-surf. He says they are not in fact great swimmers, but don't need to be, given that their blimplike bodies make them nearly impossible to drown. It's a reminder of how many animals engage in pure, functionally useless play activities, and how varied those activities are.

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