To answer the "give female hippos the pill" question: we do, in a sense. It's called PZP, delivered via injection every three months. It does not affect ovulation but does impede fertilization.
In my friends-list, this entry was directly above one from Daily Squee with this picture. The juxtaposition suggests that the answer is: "because they're too adorable!"
At seven years old that hippo is about half her full adult size. She is also old enough to calve (gestation is very short, only 8 months). If that had been a male hippo, with access to the house, the walls would be coated with manure. Females don't scent mark as much, but where she lies down for long periods will get a nice coating of slippery pink slime.
I have to point out that all the abilities mentioned in that article ARE clues why hippos are terrifying monsters that will kill you until you die from it.
From a distance, maybe. Take a good look and it's more like this (http://i.imgur.com/hJtz9HV.jpg) or this (http://i.imgur.com/Jp31yJv.jpg) or this (http://i.imgur.com/koiHOXk.jpg). Linked because large pictures of gibbering horrors.
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Date: 2014-02-20 03:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2014-02-20 05:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-20 05:51 pm (UTC)Internal testes, aka "minimalized weak spots"? Check!
Internal testes which retreat even further when you go for them? Check!
Internal testes which can be in a wildly different place from individual to individual? Check!
Antibiotic sunscreen "sweat" plus apparent tolerance to infection-causing filth? Check!
Antibiotic sunscreen "sweat" which seeps into wounds caused by males showing off their might with big bites? Check!
It is almost like these monsters had evolved to fight and breed and terrify the crap out of everyone...
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Date: 2014-02-20 09:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-20 10:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-02-20 08:16 pm (UTC)As opposed to humans, where the male gonads are in easy-snip bags.
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Date: 2014-02-20 10:55 pm (UTC)