Some time ago, I learned that there are two living kinds of hippos. The common hippo is the big, heavy river animal most people imagine first – noisy crowds in muddy water, huge mouths, a very “don’t‑mess‑with‑me” attitude.

The animal in my photo is a pygmy hippo: smaller, more compact, with smoother skin and a quieter, self‑contained pose. From my perspective, this isn’t just “a hippo picture”; it’s a portrait of the shy forest cousin of the common hippo, caught in a rare, calm moment in front of my camera. And what I like most is knowing that both hippos are, surprisingly, closer relatives of whales and dolphins than of cows or pigs.