Hippopotamus (Large adult)
1.6 m (5.249 ft)
Shoulder height
Africa's river giant, measured at the shoulder. Up to 1.6 m (5.2 ft) tall at the shoulder.
Published
How big is that?
1.6 m is 5.4 times an A4 sheet and 5.9% of a blue whale.
Hippopotamus is the 6th smallest of the 31 Prehistoric Giants objects, and the 26th smallest of the 109 objects across all three SizeItUp games.
Closest in size from the other games: Bowling pin (Ten-pin) (Classic), 38.1 cm tall and Perseverance (Mars rover) (Cosmic Scale), 3 m long.
Size comparison
To scale, smallest to largest: Hippopotamus in orange beside the Prehistoric Giants objects nearest in size, in teal.
| Object | Size | vs Hippopotamus |
|---|---|---|
| Lion (Adult male)Today's big-cat benchmark, measured at the shoulder. | 1.2 m tall | 75% of the size |
| Polar bear (Adult male)The largest land carnivore alive today, measured at the shoulder. | 1.52 m tall | 95% of the size |
| Hippopotamus (Large adult) | 1.6 m tall | – |
| Adult man (US average)An average adult man, for scale. | 1.75 m tall | 1.1× bigger |
| VelociraptorA feathered predator from Cretaceous Mongolia, measured nose to tail. | 1.8 m long | 1.1× bigger |
In other units
| Centimetres | 160 |
|---|---|
| Metres | 1.6 |
| Inches | 62.99 |
| Feet | 5.249 |
| Yards | 1.75 |
How it's measured
Shoulder height. San Diego Zoo, upper figure.
Four-legged animals are measured at the shoulder, which stays put while the head moves.
Sources
- animals.sandiegozoo.org: Height: up to 5.2 feet (1.6 meters) tall at shoulder.
Checked against the source on .
Could you have guessed it by eye?
Hippopotamus is one of the objects in Prehistoric Giants, a daily size comparison game: you stretch a shape to the size you think is right beside one you know.