Is hippo milk in actual fact pink?

A rumor that hippopotamus milk is pink has been spreading on the secure for a pair of years — and the principle that gained traction when National Geographic posted about it on its Facebook web screech.

But is hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) milk in actual fact pink? It turns out that fancy other mammal milk, hippo milk is continuously white or cream in coloration.

“I if reality be told absorb by no formulation heard their milk is pink, so as that is a rumor,” Rebecca Lewisona biology professor at San Diego Disclose University and co-chair of the IUCN SSC Hippo Specialist Neighborhoodwhich promotes the conservation of general and pygmy hippos (Choeropsis liberiensis), informed Dwell Science: “Nonetheless, hippo ‘sweat’ is pink. That’s real and there became once some gripping science into what compounds are in there,” Lewison added. “To make certain, it is a ways no longer sweat but a pores and skin secretion that is a combo of sunscreen and antibiotic and antimicrobial compounds.”

Related: Hippos unleash poop tornado essentially essentially based mostly on stranger trouble

The hippo “sweat” is an oily secretion released by the animal’s mucous glands. Whereas it is always most continuously known as crimson sweat or blood sweat, it is a ways neither blood nor sweat but a mix of hipposudoric acid and nor-hipposudoric acid. These two substances play crucial role in maintaining the hippo’s health.

“The crimson and orange pigments are non-benzenoid aromatic compounds that are acidic and absorb antibiotic to boot to sunscreen properties,” Lewison stated.

This substance moisturizes the pores and skin, retains the animals chilly and protects them from depraved bacteria. Hippos are amphibious and exhaust as a lot as 16 hours a day in muddy, sad water, so this secretion minimizes the menace of infection. Hippos constantly absorb scratches and cutsbut they appear to heal cleanly even when the animal has been bathing in mud.

Despite the undeniable reality that this thick secretion comes out colorless fancy human sweat, it gradually turns crimson, pink or orange because the pigment polymerizes in the sun. After a pair of hours, it turns brown.

This secretion is perchance ready to then combine with the milk when a baby hippo is feeding, which may perchance well give the milk a pink hue, Lewison stated.

Nonetheless, pink milk may perchance well very nicely be the signal of a health nervousness, stated Barbara Henrycurator of nutrition at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. “Hippo milk is no longer pink. If there is a pink coloration which formulation there is perchance an nervousness that involves blood,” she informed Dwell Science.