The North American House Hippo - [Fearsome critter/Urban Legend]

• About this Critter •

Standing at just over a couple inches tall: The North American House Hippo are A species of miniature hippopotomid vermin, reportedly found natively throughout Canada, and the Eastern United States. Nocturnal, timid and very rarely seen. They will ferociously defend their territory if they are provoked by their natural predators; house pets. - Fortunately for the pets, Their diet and favourite foods consist of chips, raisins and the crumbs from peanut butter toast. They make their nests in bedroom closets, using dryer lint and pieces of string where they sleep about 16 hours every day. – [Last pic: a brave house hippo narrowly avoids a predator by hiding inside of a bag of chips!]

Originally part of a Canadian PSA/Advertisement campaign which aired on YTV (and many other networks) in May of 1999 & well into the early 2000’s – The PSA was intended to inform children “not to believe everything that they see on TV and to always ask questions!” – Ironically. due to the length of the first half of the commercial – (many of us do have low attention spans after all) – Many Canadian youths in fact did not listen to the end half of the commercial: so the message was unclear and seemingly backfired. - Some Canadians insist on social media (either jokingly or in earnest!) that in their youth they believed the House hippo was real: some even claim that they encountered one or two in their homes: I myself as a child, had conversations with friends who where die hard believers (well, either that or they where hazing me...) - Regardless of the intent of the advertisements or the validity of the online statements: The house hippo is a fond memory of many young Canadians, & undeniably it is an example of a modern tongue in cheek “Fearsome critter.” (or at least a tall tale that was wide spread and believed by some, but in this one case unintentionally on the producers part!) Recently, (in 2019)  a new version of the advertisement was aired (but by a different producer) - much shorter: it was stated (very clearly) that the hippos are, and always where in-fact “fake.” –But, Shortly after the ad re-aired “save the house hippos” stickers & “DIY house hippo kits” began popping up for sale online! (Google it!)

This is a favorite of mine and I’m sure many other nostalgic Canadians 💖 someone asked me a while back if it counted as a cryptid or not, I’d say that because the original ad was meant to be a PSA, I’d call it a ‘critter’ before a ‘cryptid’ proper! —But, what do you think?

Sticker Art by @Samkalensky (yo thats me!) - Part of myF earsome critters/cryptids collection, weather resistant 4" sticker. Check my shop & follow @samkalensky for many more!

*Please note that my products do not contain nor come in contact with peanuts or anything else that might be mentioned in the background of the images 🤣