Zambezi Hippos & Carmine Cliffs
Upper Zambezi Floodplain, Zambezi Region, Namibia · Africa · wetland_coast
About this place
Track Hippopotamus amphibius biogenic silicon transport into river food webs and red hipposudoric acid photoprotection.
For kids: Glide past Zambezi reed channels where chubby hippos make their own rosy sunscreen and feed river fish!
Zambezi Hippos & Carmine Cliffs · 360° Habitat Camp
What to look for
- Deep slackwater hippo lagoon — Hipposudoric acid & negative buoyancy. Centre the slackwater channel pod exhibiting periscopic cranial alignment
- Floodplain grazing lawn & canal — Biogenic silica (BSi) riverine pump. Locate the alluvial grazing lawn supplying biogenic silicon to the Zambezi food web
- Sandy riverbank bee-eater cliff — Merops nubicoides colonial nesting bank. Scan the vertical alluvial bank excavated by colonial southern carmine bee-eaters
Source: Schoelynck et al. (2019), Science Advances & Saikawa et al. (2004), Nature — Hippo-vectored river silicon pump & hipposudoric acid sunscreen chemistry.
Ask together: Did you know heavy hippos don't actually paddle-swim—they gracefully bounce and tiptoe along the river bottom like astronauts!
Field quiz
Kids' question: What does the shiny reddish-pink liquid on a hippo's skin actually do?
- It works as natural moisturizing sunscreen and germ shield!
- It comes from splashing in strawberry jam
- It paints stripes so hippos look like zebras
Answer
It works as natural moisturizing sunscreen and germ shield!
Adults' question: How do nocturnal grazing hippos prevent silicon limitation and toxic cyanobacterial shifts in East and Southern African rivers?
- Importing grass phytolith silica into pools to sustain siliceous diatom microalgae at the food-web base
- Filtering microplastics through baleen plates along the jaws
- Oxygenating deep river trenches via gill filaments
- Fixing atmospheric nitrogen inside hollow canine tusks
Answer
Importing grass phytolith silica into pools to sustain siliceous diatom microalgae at the food-web base
360° photo: Reinhard Kraasch, CC BY-SA 4.0
See it live: Live check: Zambezi River & Carmine Bee-Eater Cam
- By day
- Southern carmine bee-eaters (Aug–Nov), African fish eagles, pied kingfishers & hippos Pied kingfishers (Ceryle rudis) achieve true stationary wind-hovering over open water without perches by tilting body angle against river breezes.
- By night
- Grunting Zambezi hippo pods coming ashore & splashing river catfish Amphibious vocalizations propagate simultaneously through air and through water via mandibular bone conduction to submerged pod mates.
Other language: Русский