Peter Potamus is a purple animated hippopotamus that first appeared in the 1964–1966 animated television series The Peter Potamus Show, produced by Hanna-Barbera and first broadcast on September 16, 1964.The Peter Potamus Show was divided into three segments: Peter Potamus and So-So, Breezly and Sneezly and Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey. Peter Potamus was a companion series to The Magilla Gorilla Show. Both series premiered in first-run syndication before being picked up by ABC in January 1966. Peter Potamus ran on Sunday mornings and The Magilla Gorilla Show went to Saturday mornings before moving to Sundays the following year. At that time, the Breezly and Sneezly segment was swapped with Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long, a segment on The Magilla Gorilla Show. After the ABC run ended in 1967, cartoons from Magilla Gorilla and Peter Potamus shows were syndicated together.

The Ideal Toy Company was the sponsor of the television series, and during the original run of the cartoon, the closing song ended with the phrase: "And there he goes Peter Potamus, our ideal". A similarly subtle sponsor reference appeared in the Magilla Gorilla theme song lyrics: "He's really ideal".

Early promotional materials for the series carried the title Peter Potamus and His Magic Flying Balloon, but that title never appeared on screen.

The original Peter Potamus series was broadcast on the cable TV channel Boomerang, often as part of its anthology series Boomerang Zoo.