Do hippos secrete a slime that protects their skin against the suns rays?

Answer 1

Yes. Hippos are sensitive to sunburn. For additional protection from the sun their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red colored. This secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but it is not actually blood, nor sweat. This secretion starts out colorless, turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown.

There are two distinct pigments that have been identified in the secretions, red and orange. The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. They are known as red pigment hipposudoric acid and orange one norhipposudoric acid. The red pigment was found to inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria, lending credence to the theory that the secretion has an antibiotic effect. The light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. Hippos all over the world secrete the pigments so it doesn't appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine. (Saikawa, et al., 2004)

Answer 2

yes

A BIT MORE INFO

BECAUSE OF THE PROTECTION QUALITY OF THE "SLIME" THAT IS SECRETED SCIENCE IS TRYING TO LEARN HOW IT CAN BE USED WITH HUMANS. THE FRESNO CHAFFEE ZOO IN FRESNO, CA HAS BEEN ONE OF THE LEADERS IN THIS STUDY AND HAS BEEN COLLECTING THE "SLIME" FROM THE HIPPOS IN THEIR ZOO. EVENTUALLY, A CREAM OR SOMETHING ELSE MAY BE DEVELOPED FOR HUMAN USE. THIS IS ONE WAY NATURE AND SCIENCE WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR HUMANITY.