It resembled a rhinoceros with a roundish body. It was a powerful creature, with a thick hide capable of repelling most curses and charms, a single long horn, and a thick tail. They were treated with great caution and respect by African wizards and witches. Male Erumpents produced musk.The Erumpent did not attack unless provoked, but the results were usually fatal. The horn could pierce skin and metal, and the horn contained a deadly fluid that caused whatever was injected with it to explode. There were rare occasions when the injected object or being did not explode, as in the case of Wilfred Elphick, the first wizard to have been gored by an Erumpent. As his Chocolate Frog Card depicts him in bandages, but very much alive, it can be assumed that he survived the attack and did not explode.When Newt Scamander's Erumpent injected its fluid into a tree on the night of 6 December 1926, it did not explode right away. Instead, it liquefied like glowing bubbles before exploding and fell to the ground.Erumpent numbers were not large, because male Erumpents frequently blew themselves up during mating season. Erumpents only gave birth to one calf at a time.Erumpent horns, tails, and Exploding Fluid were all widely used in potions, although they were listed as Class B Tradeable Materials.An Erumpent was one rare possible corporeal form of the Patronus Charm.Female Erumpents could reach five times the size of a non-magical hippopotamus, though it was considered medium-sized in Magizoology.Apparently, Erumpents could hold their breath and swim underwater.