The Telegraph reports:
Jessica the 750lb teenage hippopotamus “eats, sleeps, swims and plays with retired game warden Tonie Joubert and wife Shirley at their home in South Africa.
“She wanders round the house, drinks coffee on the veranda, hangs out with the pet dogs and enjoys soothing massages that help her relax at the end of a happy hippo day.
“Most nights, Jessica totters off back to the river for a mudbath. But on other occasions she’ll wander into the house, wet and dripping slime and plonk herself on the couple’s bed. It is becoming a problem because she has broken the bed three times.” [slide show] [previous warm-hearted pics here]
J. Patrick Lewis has a thing or two to say:
A hippopotamusn’t sit
On lawn chairs, stools, and rockers.
A hippopotamusn’t yawn
Directly under tightrope walkers.
A hippopotamusn’t roll
In gutters used by bowlers.
A hippopotamusn’t fail
To floss his hippopotamolars.The awful things a hippopotamusn’t do
Are just
As important as the lawful things
A hippopotamust.
Patiently enjoying a happy hippo kiss:
