What color is hippopotamus milk?

What color is hippopotamus milk? It is normally white or cream.

The persistent “pink hippo milk” claim confuses milk with the animal’s distinctive skin secretion. Hippos produce reddish and orange pigments called hipposudoric acid and norhipposudoric acid. These compounds help protect the skin from sunlight, water loss, and some microorganisms.

The secretion is sometimes inaccurately called “blood sweat,” but it is neither blood nor ordinary sweat. It begins nearly colorless, becomes red-orange, and eventually turns brown as it changes in sunlight.

Hippo milk itself is mammalian milk and is not naturally bright pink. Some external secretion could theoretically mix with milk around the nursing area, but that does not make pink milk the normal biological color. The accurate quiz answer is white or cream.