#mixedspecies

Surrounded by cichlids, Daisy the #hippo naps in surprisingly clear water. Hippopotami each produce hundreds of pounds of poop a day, and mostly while they’re soaking. When large groups of hippos congregate in rivers, the sheer amount of excrement that accumulates can result in such deoxygenated water that aquatic life downstream literally suffocates! When hippos are in human care, that preference for pooping underwater can make it very hard for their pool water to stay clear enough for zoo guests to actually see the animals: new exhibits, like this one that opened at the Fort Worth Zoo in 2018, are designed with truly heroic water filtration systems to address that problem. Another solution? Those cichlids aren’t just in the tank because pretty fish add another visual dimension. These African cichlids evolved to live in warm freshwater habitats, and many species are herbivores or detrivores (animals that eat dead organic material): so they help keep the hippo pool clean by nibbling up both bits of hippo poop and the algae that tends to grow in such well-fertilized water. #hippopotamus #fortworthzoo #cichlids #mixedspecies #naptime #herbivore (at Fort Worth, Texas)
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