Hippo Pliés (and Watch the Flowers)

♪♫ Dancing hippos ♬♪

♪♫ In the garden, ♬♪

♪♫ Crush the flowers... ♬♪

♪♫ (Beg your pardon) ♬♪

♪♫ It's not easy ♬♪

♪♫ Finding slippers ♬♪

♪♫ When your feet are bigger than those of the Clippers. ♬♪

♪♫ Pirouette...♬♪

♪♫ (and watch the posies) ♬♪

♪♫ Arabesque... ♬♪

♪♫ (There go the rosies.) ♬♪

♪♫ Grand plié ♬♪

♪♫ (It's even grande-er than plié you plied the other day).♬♪

♪♫ Grand jeté, ♬♪

♪♫ (Can't get much grande-er) ♬♪

♪♫ Clear the way ♬♪

♪♫ To the beyond-er... ♬♪

♪♫ As we dance among the flowers ♬♪

♪♫ Calling it the Hippo Dancing of the Hours... ♬♪

Ta-dah!

Charm available on etsy

Flying Hippos Fly-hi-dee, try-hi-dee, my-hi-dee-ho

Hippo's Hope

by Shel Silverstein

There once was a hippo who wanted to fly --

Fly-hi-dee, try-hi-dee, my-hi-dee-ho.

So he sewed him some wings that could flap through the sky --

Sky-hi-dee, fly-hi-dee, why-hi-dee-go.

He climbed to the top of a mountain of snow --

Snow-hi-dee, slow-hi-dee, oh-hi-dee-hoo.

With the clouds high above and the sea down below --

Where-hi-dee, there-hi-dee, scare-hi-dee-boo.

(Happy ending)

And he flipped and he flapped and he bellowed so loud --

Now-hi-dee, loud-hi-dee, proud-hi-dee-poop.

And he sailed like an eagle, off into the clouds --

High-hi-dee, fly-hi-dee, bye-hi-dee-boop.

(Unhappy ending)

And he leaped like a frog and he fell like a stone --

Stone-hi-dee, lone-hi-dee, own-hi-dee-flop.

And he crashed and he drowned and broke all his bones --

Bones-hi-dee, moans-hi-dee, groans-hi-dee-glop.

(Chicken ending)

He looked up at the sky and looked down at the sea --

Sea-hi-dee, free-hi-dee, whee-hi-dee-way.

And he turned and went home and had cookies and tea --

That's hi-dee, all hi-dee, I have to say.

eBay hippos here

etsy hippos here

Berserk Hippos

Hippos Go Berserk

From "Hippos Go Berserk!", by Sandra Boynton. 

One hippo, all alone,

Calls two hippos on the phone.

Three hippos at the door, 

bring along another four. 

Five hippos come overdressed. 

Six hippos show up with a guest. 

Seven hippos arrive in a sack. 

Eight hippos sneak in the back. 

Nine hippos show up to work.

ALL THE HIPPOS GO BERSERK!!!

All through the hippo night,

hippos play with great delight.

But at the hippo break of day,

the hippos all must go away. 

Nine hippos and a beast,

join eight hippos riding east, 

while seven hippos moving west, 

leave six hippos quite distressed, 

and five hippos set forth,

with four hippos headed north,

three hippos say 'good day'. 

The last two hippos go their way. 

One hippo, alone once more, 

misses the other forty four. 

Going berserk with hippos in

my eBay shop

etsy shop

Hippo Brains, or Yes, Virginia, There is a Hobbit

Scientists at the Natural History Museum believe that studies of ancient Madagascan hippos have led to a theory on the origins of the small brain of the 1-metre-tall human, known as the hobbit.

By examining the skulls of extinct Madagascan hippos, Museum scientists discovered that dwarfed mammals on islands evolved smaller brains in relation to their body size.

They now believe that Homo floresiensis may have had a tiny brain because of living on an island.  This belief is at the heart of the debate of the hobbit’s origins, whose remains were uncovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003.

The team suggests that the hobbit became a dwarf after its Homo erectus ancestor became isolated on the large island of Flores many years ago.

‘The discovery of a small fossil human from the island of Flores with normal facial proportions but a brain the size of chimpanzee has baffled scientists,’ explained Natural History Museum palaeontologist, Dr Eleanor Weston, who led the research.

‘It could be that its skull is that of a dwarfed mammal living on an island. Looking at pygmy hippos in Madagascar, which possess exceptionally small brains for their size, suggests that the ‘hobbit’ was a dwarf resulting from its H. erectus ancestors being isolated on the island in the past.’

Madagascar has many diverse habitats and was once home to at least 3 species of hippo.

(these aren't them)

The team studied species of extinct Madagascan hippos and their mainland ancestor, the large common hippopotamus.

(this one's not really common ~ he's carved of amazonite)

One of the specimens used, from the Museum’s mammal collection, was a nearly 3000-year-old dwarf hippo skull belonging to the extinct Hippopotamus madagascariensis.

'We found that the brain sizes of extinct dwarf hippos were still up to 30% smaller than you would expect...' explains Dr. Weston. 'It may be advantageous to the survival of animals that become isolated on islands with unique environments, not only to become dwarfs but to reduce the size of their brain.'

 So apparently these charmed hippos are perfectly suited to live on a small island, preferably populated with beady vegetation.  You can find them here and here.

The entire article (without the CHARMing hippos, alas)

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Gayla Peevey, recorded in 1953
Lyrics and music by John Rox 

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door,
that's the easy thing to do

 

I can see me now on Christmas morning,
creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise
when I open up my eyes
to see a hippo hero standing there

 

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

(Short Music Interlude)

Mom says the hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegeterian

(Short Music Interlude)

There's lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage

 

I can see me now on Christmas morning,
creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise
when I open up my eyes
to see a hippo hero standing there

 

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too! 

Visit my etsy hippos here.

Sing along here.