Vintage Little Metal Hippo

While cleaning out a friend's barn, my husband made this discovery. I loved it so much that my friend let me keep him. He looks like he is made from cast metal, and he must be old. My husband is guessing that it's from the 1930s. I found out that the star-shaped screws were invented in 1934, and it is held together with these type of screws.

I tried to do some research on him, but there are no markings on him. The only thing I found was this blog post where someone else, in New Zealand, had found one that is identical. Mine appears to be all original. I opened him up and he is hollow inside.

his mouth opens:

his head, arms and legs rotate around, and he has a "loop" on his head that leads me to think that he is meant to be a pendant of some sort:

If you have any information on him, I'd really love to hear what you think!