"The Hippos by Keith Eltringham is the first book to present a complete coverage of hippopotamus biology and ecology. Keith Eltringham summarises the most recent studies and presents them in a style accessible to the interested general reader and the research biologist alike. Both the larger, common hippo and the smaller, and much less well-studied, pygmy hippo are described, and the similarities and differences between them discussed are unusual in being genuinely amphibious and this has a fundamental effect on their physiology and way of life. A consideration of the hippo's relationships with its human neighbours and the prospects for its long-term conservation gives an important view of current conservation concerns. The book closes with three chapters devoted to the results of the author's recent survey on the distribution and abundance of the common hippo throughout Africa. This is the first such estimate to have been made on a continent-wide basis and the total population of about 170,000, was so much smaller than many people had expected, that it resulted in the common hippo being given special protection under the CITES convention."--Jacket.