Hippopotamus 🦛

The hippo emoji shows a barrel-shaped, rotund creature with a massive gaping mouth, small rounded ears, and a thick, sturdy body—usually rendered in gray or brown to match the real animal's muddy, water-loving existence. That open mouth is the signature feature, giving the hippo a perpetually cheerful or surprised expression that's impossible to mistake.

People use the hippo emoji to reference the actual animal, particularly in zoo contexts, nature documentaries, or African wildlife conversations. The wide-open mouth makes it perfect for expressing surprise, shock, or a big yawn. It's also used playfully when talking about something chubby, rounded, or getting into water ("I'm gonna hippo-splash into this pool"), and occasionally as a cute, goofy alternative to more serious animal emoji.

Hippos are surprisingly dangerous in real life—they're among Africa's deadliest animals—but the emoji's cartoonish, friendly appearance makes it feel harmless and endearing. This contrast between the real animal's power and the emoji's cute design is part of its charm. The hippo sits in a sweet spot between genuinely impressive and genuinely hilarious.

Approved as part of Unicode Emoji 11.0 in 2018, the hippo arrived relatively recently, reflecting the continued expansion of wildlife representation and the demand for more niche animal emoji in digital communication.