Page "Pygmy hippopotamus" Paragraph 41

Several folktales have been collected about the pygmy hippopotamus.

One tale says that pygmy hippos carry a shining diamond in their mouths to help travel through thick forests at night ; by day the pygmy hippo has a secret hiding place for the diamond, but if a hunter catches a pygmy hippo at night the diamond can be taken.

Villagers sometimes believed that baby pygmy hippos do not nurse but rather lick secretions off the skin of the mother.