In 2008, a 3-ton hippopotamus, in order to snatch the wildebeest in the hyena's mouth, turned into a "meat bomb chariot" and launched a fierce charge against the hyena herd, killing 2 hyenas and wounding 3 and scattering in all directions.
In 2012, in the Little Karoo region of South Africa, a male rhinoceros was beaten by three hippos when he strayed into hippopotamus territory while drinking water, and was finally outnumbered by hippos and pushed into the water and drowned.
It can be said that as the "five major beasts of Africa", hippos are not only terrifying, but also cruel and bloodthirsty, often inexplicably angry, sometimes in a bad mood, and even fight against crocodiles, very arrogant.
For humans, the most dangerous thing in Africa is not male lions and crocodiles, let alone elephants and bison, but stupid-looking hippos, because they kill at least 500 humans a year, more than any other African animal combined.
About hippos
Hippos are a typical amphibian, or a close relative of dolphins, they have a thick and round body, a large mouth, short limbs, adult body length of up to 3.6 meters, weight of up to 3 tons, is a real sense of the sense of the behemoth, known as "African little bully".
Hippos spend 16 hours a day in the water because their skin is delicate and will dry out when exposed to sunlight, especially in the dry season, once the water is not replenished in time, they will be "sunburned" alive.
Therefore, the sense of territory of hippos is extremely strong, it can be said that in addition to elephants, any animal that steps into the territory of hippos will be attacked by their madness, such as Nile crocodiles often because they mistakenly enter the territory of hippos, they are beaten to survive, and they can't die.
Hippos like to live in rivers with abundant water and grass, generally living in groups, each group has about 10 members, but they do not like to eat aquatic grass, but prefer to eat grass on the shore, of course, sometimes meat.
It is worth mentioning that although hippos are long in the river, they can only dive, not swim, they can only flutter in the river, or use the bottom of the river to bounce forward, which is very interesting.
How strong is the fighting power of hippos?
In the African savannah, size is the only measure of combat power, and the hippopotamus is like a small mountain that can move, enough to crush most animals directly.
And the huge body also brings infinite strength to the hippopotamus, according to calculations, the power of the hippopotamus' all-out blow can reach 2,000 pounds, which is 4 times that of the tiger and 8 times that of Tyson, only the elephant is stronger than it.
In addition, although hippos look fat and bulky, they are not slow at all, and they can sprint up to 40 kilometers per hour for short distances, which even Usain Bolt cannot out.
And hippos are not only fast, the impact is even more powerful, their huge body, once they sprint with all their strength, they will definitely shake the mountain, and ordinary animals do not dare to be enemies with it, and they can only run away when they meet.
However, hippos have poor endurance and cannot leave the river for a long time, and once they are on land for too long, they are likely to be life-threatening, so they are only suitable for "sprint races".
In addition, hippos are also amazingly lethal, they have the largest mouth of African animals, with a bite force of 1600 pounds, twice that of tigers, and a 40-centimeter-long canine tooth in the mouth, which can bite through the skin of crocodiles with one blow.
What's more, hippos are not only hot-tempered and extremely aggressive, but also social animals, and they will use group fighting tactics in the face of enemies, which is quite destructive, so few animals will actively provoke them.
Not only that, the defense of hippos is also terrifying, their skin alone is 3 cm thick, and the body is densely muscular, it is simply a "muscle tank", even a male lion can not break the defense in a short time.
And the hippopotamus has a large head and a thick neck, and this large waist makes it difficult for predators to lower their mouths, and it is only possible to defeat hippos through continuous consumption.
The nemesis of the hippopotamus
Adult hippos have no natural enemies, because no carnivore will attack them, but there is an animal with a more violent temperament, but even hippos dare not provoke, this animal is the African male elephant.
African male elephants are recognized as "big brothers" in the grassland, they are strong, impulsive and irritable, adult height up to 4 meters, weight between 4-8 tons, extremely strong combat effectiveness, known as the strongest creature on the surface.
Especially during estrus, African male elephants even force rhinos to mate with themselves, if they do not comply, they will be killed on the spot, but fortunately hippos live in water most of the time, so they escape.
In addition, large lions are also the nemesis of hippos, because lions are extremely intelligent, they only attack hippos that run to land to feed, and only prey on juvenile hippos, and rarely attack adult hippos.
Large lions have strong predation skills, they will first use the speed advantage, around the hippopotamus, and then use wheel wars, constantly consume the hippopotamus' physical strength, and when the hippopotamus is exhausted, then coax up, slowly grind the hippopotamus to death, this style of play is very clever.
Cases of hippos attacking humans
In October 2019, while rowing in Zimbabwe, Briton Temple accidentally broke into the territory of a hippopotamus, only to be directly overturned by a huge hippopotamus and then directly bitten in the mouth.
Later, the hippopotamus threw Dunple in mid-air, and the situation was very critical, but fortunately Dunple was wearing thicker clothes, and the hippopotamus only attacked once and left.
But with just one attack, Dunpool was seriously injured, he was covered in blood, one arm was pressed into meat sauce, there was a huge hole in his back and thigh, and the back of his head was bloody, but Dunple survived luckily, which is a miracle.
In addition, many people do not know that hippos are not only terrifying in attack, but also extremely lethal, killing thousands of fish every year.
For example, in the Mara River in Africa, more than 4,000 hippos live here, each of which likes to excrete in water, but they do not have a cecum and cannot fully absorb water from food, resulting in a large amount of organic matter produced by feces.
These organic matter consume a lot of oxygen during the decomposition process, which eventually leads to the death of a large number of fish. So, having said all that, what do you think about hippos?
