An adult hippopotamus has four toes on each foot. The toes are broad and splayed, helping the heavy animal distribute its weight on muddy ground and riverbeds.
Despite spending much of the day in water, hippos are not especially well adapted for swimming in the usual sense. They often walk or push off along the bottom, and their nostrils and eyes can remain near the surface while the rest of the body is submerged.
Hippos are among Africa’s largest land mammals. Their short legs support a barrel-shaped body, and each foot ends in four toes with small hoof-like nails. This arrangement is different from the two-toed feet of rhinoceroses and many hoofed running mammals.