Our web-footed friends

I am no zoologist, but I did a double take when Mythconceptions [ FT351:21] claimed that hippos have webbed feet (with a drawing of a web-footed hippo to boot). I’m pretty sure they don’t. I should of course back up this assertion with references to the zoological literature, but I’ve had a lot to do lately. Instead, in true fortean fashion, I found the proof I needed at FT308:42: a clear and detailed picture of the infamous Loch Ness Hippo Ashtray. No trace of a web there. Nils Erik Grande Oslo, Norway

Karl Shuker responds: Hippos don’t have ‘true’ webbed feet, in the sense that ducks and otters do, for instance, in which the webbing between the toes is permanently present and tight. What they have is extremely stretchy skin between the toes, so when the toes are splayed apart from each other, this stretchy skin tightens and thus yields an approximation of true webbing that helps them move underwater.