The Wild 5: Hippo - 2022 Proof Fine Silver 2oz High Relief $20 Coin - SLE

The name ‘Hippopotamus’ comes from the Ancient Greek meaning ‘river horse’ and despite closely resembling more of a large pig, the Hippo’s closest living relatives are whales and porpoises. Yet even with its stocky shape and short legs, it can still easily outrun most humans. In the wild, Hippos have an average life span of around 40 years, but this increases to around 50 years in captivity. In the wild, they usually live in herds of around 10-20 individuals, led by one dominant male, with all other members being female, their young, or a few young non-breeding males. Sub-Saharan Africa provides the most incredible opportunities for wildlife sightings, with an extremely varied mixture of animals across the continent. With such diversity of wildlife, Africa holds the titles for the biggest animals, the most dangerous animals, the fastest animals, the strongest animals, the most elusive animals, and so on. Therefore, it seems only right to depict some more of these iconic animals on a brand new five coin series. The coin has been produced in magnificent High Relief in 2oz Proof Fine Silver and is also available in Unc. Cupro Nickel. The design features the head of a Hippo in relief with the word “HIPPOPOTAMUS” whilst the obverse of the coin shows the coat of arms of the Republic of Sierra Leone. This is the second coin in the series and a further three coins will be released featuring: The Antelope, The Baboon and The Zebra.