Pygmy Hippopotamuses for Grace of the Hawaii Five-0 2010 Family?

Summary: The Honolulu Zoo has common hippopotamuses, not pygmy hippopotamuses, for Hawaii Five-0 2010 Season One's second episode Ohana (Family) Sept. 27, 2010.

female common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), either Louise or Rosey, at Honolulu Zoo, Oahu; Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007, 10:50:41: Cliff (cliff1066™), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Common and pygmy hippopotamuses are not native to the Hawaiian islands even though common hippopotamuses acquire admiring audiences in the Hawaii Five-0 2010 active police procedural series episode Ohana Sept. 27, 2010.

Director Brad Turner and writers Sarah Goldfinger, Alex Kurtzman, Peter M. Lenkov and Paul Zbyszewski blend personal and professional family into the first season's second episode. Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin), as lieutenant commander, characterizes Hawaii Five-0 Task Force colleagues in their downtown headquarters as "we care for each other like a family." Danny Williams (Scott Caan) diverts biological family experiences into professional family expertise, as when he declares, "I got a daughter, she loves hippos. Everybody likes hippos."

Perhaps Button and Genny, Nile hippopotamuses in the Hippo Haven at Camden's Adventure Aquarium, elicited Grace's (Teilor Grubbs) esteem before Danny's daughter emigrated from New Jersey.

Hawaii perhaps furthers Grace's fascination with Hippopotamidae family members since the Honolulu Zoo features captive hippopotamuses (from the Greek ἵππος, híppos, "horse" and ποταμός, potamós, "river").

The Honolulu Zoo guards savannah habitats for common hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius, "amphibian hippopotamus"), not swampy forests for pygmy hippopotamuses (Hexaprotodon liberiensis, "Liberian [with] six front teeth"). Sexually mature three- to five-plus-year-old pygmy hippopotamuses, as captive cows, have 9.92- to 13.67-pound (4.5- to 6.2-kilogram) singleton or twin calves after 188- to 210-day gestations. Captivity informs 40-plus-year life cycles of pygmy hippopotamuses, identified in 1844 and 1969 by Samuel George Morton (Jan. 26, 1799-May 15, 1851) and Gordon Barclay Corbet.

Females juggle one to four aquatic or terrestrial matings during 35-plus reproductive hormone-high estrous (from Greek οἶστρος, oîstros,"passion") days, six- to eight-month nursings and three-year parenthoods.

Pygmy hippopotamuses, as nominate (first-named) Hexaprotodon liberiensis liberiensis subspecies, keep solitary life cycles except during mating and parenting in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Liberian and, if not extinct, Nigerian subspecies (Hexaprotodon liberiensis heslopi, for Ian Robert Penicuick Heslop, June 7-14?, 1904-June 2, 1970) live solitarily outside mating and parenting. Females, with their three-year parenting of singletons or twins, and males respectively manage 98.84- to 148.26-acre (0.4- to 0.6-square-kilometer) and 457.14-plus-acre (1.85-plus-square-kilometer) foraging and home territories. Adult female dusk-feeders of broad-leaved plants, ferns and fruits nestle with singletons or twins into ravine, riverine, stream beds, burrows and dens in rain-forested, swampy plains.

Pygmy hippopotamuses observe mature 2.46- to 3.28-foot (75- to 100-centimeter) shoulder-heights, 4.92- to 5.74-foot (150- to 175-centimeter) lengths and 396.83- to 606.27-pound (180- to 275-kilogram) weights.

Pygmy hippopotamuses possess, atop a 1.18-inch- (3-plus-centimeter-) thick dermis (inner skin), thin brown or green-black epidermis (outermost skin) pinkened with antiseptic, hipposudoric acid-filled, hydrating, sun-screening secretions.

Pygmy hippopotamuses qualify as Artiodactyla (from the Greek ἄρτιος, ártios, "even" and δάκτυλος, dákytlos, "finger/toe") even-toed ungulate (hoofed) order members with weight-bearing third and fourth toes. They reveal galloping and trotting speeds, possibly through 15- to 30-mile (24.14- to 48.28-kilometer) hourly speeds, and swimming and wading skills on four four-toed, stubby legs. They sustain small heads with muscled, submersion-friendly ears and nostrils; thin necks; vat-like bodies with forward-sloping spines and thin-boned skeletons; web-poor, spread-out toes to narrow feet.

Common hippopotamuses and pygmy hippopotamuses, as respectively endangered and vulnerable captive and wild animals, take well to zoo life, especially for wildlife lovers such as Grace.

(left to right) Grace Park (Officer Kono Kalakaua), Alex O'Loughlin (Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett), Scott Caan (Detective Danny "Danno" Williams) and Daniel Dae Kim (Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly), gather as Hawaii Five-0, a special task force with members self-described as ohana ("family"): Hawaii Five-0 @Hawaii Five0CBS, via Twitter July 15, 2010

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

female common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), either Louise or Rosey, at Honolulu Zoo, Oahu; Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007, 10:50:41: Cliff (cliff1066™), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/2854860972/

(left to right) Grace Park (Officer Kono Kalakaua), Alex O'Loughlin (Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett), Scott Caan (Detective Danny "Danno" Williams) and Daniel Dae Kim (Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly), gather as Hawaii Five-0, a special task force with members self-described as ohana ("family"): Hawaii Five-0 @Hawaii Five0CBS, via Twitter July 15, 2010, @ https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiFive0CBS/photos/a.135257959841022/135257963174355/

For further information:

Boisserie, Jean-Renaud. 28 January 2005. "The Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Hippopotamidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla): A Review Based on Morphology and Cladistic Analysis." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 143, issue 1: 1-26. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2004.00138.x.
Available via Oxford Academic @ https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/143/1/1/2726725

Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; Fabrice Lihoreau; Michel Brunet. 26 January 2005. "Origins of Hippopotamidae (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla): Towards Resolution." Zoologica Scripta, vol. 34, issue 2: 119-143. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00183.x.
Available @ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00183.x

Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; Fabrice Lihoreau; Michel Brunet. 1 February 2005. "The Position of Hippopotamidae Within Cetartiodactyla." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 102, no. 5: 1537-1541. doi:10.1073/pnas.0409518102. PMC 547867. PMID 15677331.
Available @ http://www.pnas.org/content/102/5/1537

Corbet, G.B. (Gordon Barclay). 1969. "The Taxonomic Status of the Pygmy Hippopotamus, Choeropsis liberiensis, from the Niger Delta." Journal of Zoology 158: 387-394.
Available via Wiley Online Library ZSL (Zoological Society of London) @ https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1969.tb02156.x

Coryndon, Shirley C. 1977. "The Taxonomy and Nomenclature of the Hippopotamidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) and a Description of Two New Fossil Species." Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen 80(2): 61-88.

de Worms, Baron Charles George Maurice. September 1970. "Obituary: Ian Robert Penicick Heslop (1904-1970)." The Entomologist's Record, vol. 82, no. 9: 245-246. Arbroath, Scotland: T. Buncle & Co. Ltd.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/entomologistsrec821970tutt/page/245

Eltringham, Stewart K. "Common Hippopotamus: Hippopotamus amphibius." In: Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 15, Mammals IV: 310-311. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Eltringham, Stewart K. "Hippopotamuses." In: Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 1, Mammals IV: 301-308. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Eltringham, Stewart K. "Pygmy Hippopotamus: Hexaprotodon liberiensis." In: Michael Hutchins, Devra G. Kleiman, Valerius Geist and Melissa C. McDade, eds. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 15, Mammals IV: 311. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Hawaii Five-0 @Hawaii Five0CBS. 15 July 2010. "Hawaii Five-0 kicked off production in Honolulu today with a traditional Hawaiian blessing in honor of its host culture!" Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiFive0CBS/photos/a.135257959841022/135257963174355/

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Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726979

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 November 2010. "Pineappley Hala Tree Botanical Botanical Illustrations for Hawaii Five-0 Pilot." Earth and Space News. Friday.
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Morton, S.G. (Samuel George). 27 February 1844. "On a Supposed New Species of Hippopotamus." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. II (1844 & 1845): 14-17. Philadelphia PA: Printed for The Academy by Merrihew & Thompson, 1846.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26280053

"Ohana: Family." Hawaii Five-0 2010: The First Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount, Sept. 27, 2010.