Yummy!
Hippos can stand in the hot sun all day without getting a sunburn, and now researchers know why: a red-colored glandular secretion known as “hippo sweat” contains microscopic structures that scatter light, protecting the hefty mammals from burns, according to a new study
In the future, scientists hope to create a product inspired by hippo sweat that we may be slathering on our bodies before long. The stuff could be an advertiser’s dream.
“It would be nice to also try and replicate the antiseptic and insect-repellent characteristics of the sweat, to obtain a four-in-one product: sunscreen, sunblock, antiseptic, insect repellent. Just so long as the stuff doesn’t smell like hippo,”
dreamt the study’s co-author Christopher Viney.
This sounds ultra fab. Especially if this means we’ll see hippos wrapped in towels in a luxurious sauna!
[Image via WENN.]
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