Have you ever seen a humble hippopotamus headshot a lion? Obviously an herbivore, not only has the world's largest mouth, but also has a stronger bite force than a carnivore, how fierce is the hippopotamus?
In the African savannah, there are life and death battles between animals all the time, because the competition for survival is too strong, and the animals here look more "wild" than other places.
Although hippos do not hunt, they can gain a foothold in the African savannah, and of course they are also very powerful.
In battles between wild animals, size is always the most important factor. Adult hippos can only grow to about 1.6 meters tall, although not half the size of African elephants, but their limbs are stubby, their body length can reach 5 meters, and the average weight is about 2 tons.
This size makes hippos very stable under the plate, and when they really run, they are not as bulky as they look, and the maximum speed can even reach 40 kilometers per hour. With this weight and sprint speed, even a truck can be overturned.
With such a strong body size, the "defense power" is still very high. This is related to their species and living habits.
Although hippos live in the African savannah, the closest genetic relatives to them are not land mammals, but whales and dolphins in the sea, and even their species are classified as a separate hippopotamus family under the "cetacean cloven-hoofed order", rather than ungulates similar to them.
Since blood relations are closer to marine animals such as whales, it is normal that hippos cannot survive without water. Although they will go ashore, the main food of hippos is aquatic plants, and their skin has poor moisturizing function, and if they are not exposed to water for a long time, they will dry and crack.
Like its whale relatives, hippos have a thick layer of fat under their skin, which not only keeps them warm underwater, but more importantly provides them with plenty of buoyancy.
With this layer of fat, the hippopotamus, which already had thick skin, seems to wear a layer of armor, and predators whose teeth and claws are not long enough cannot cause harm to the hippopotamus.
Hippos are short and strong, and even newborn baby hippos can have four layers of necks. Such a thick body has another advantage, that is, "anti-bite".
For example, the African Nile crocodile, although it is notoriously strong bite, but in the face of such a thick body as an adult hippopotamus, even if it opens its mouth and bites the hippopotamus, it will be unable to exert its strongest strength because the mouth is too open and the skin of the hippopotamus is too thick.
In addition to high defense, hippos have one of the most powerful weapons, that is, their large mouth.
The beak of a hippopotamus is now the largest of any land animal, opening up to 180 degrees. Such a large mouth bite force is very amazing, after calculations, the bite force of hippos is close to 2000 kg.
This bite force is top in nature, far exceeding the average of 480 kilograms for lions, and smaller species of crocodiles are not comparable to it.
The power of the hippopotamus' big mouth is also added to its giant teeth. Hippos have fangs up and down their mouths, each with an average length of 70 centimeters, and are their weapons for duels during estrus.
Don't look at hippos look thick and honest, in fact, they are very dangerous, very territorial awareness, as long as it feels that the territory is violated, no matter who the opponent is, with a big mouth will rush up to beat up first, so that every year in Africa people are attacked by hippos to kill and injure.
However, these are the strength of adult hippos, and baby hippos are very tasty prey on the African savannah. Because they all live in water, the animal that preys on small hippos the most is crocodiles, and adult hippos often kill young crocodiles.
Of course, nature is balanced, and the hippopotamus that looks so powerful is not completely devoid of natural enemies.
In addition to humans, relatively large lions and hyenas can kill left hippos, although the price will be relatively large, but an adult hippopotamus can feed countless animals on the grassland.
In addition, some fish in the water may also "kill" hippos. These fish also feed on aquatic plants, and if their natural predators decrease and the overall number of fish increases, it is likely to eat up the staple food of hippos, and there will be hippos who will starve to death due to insufficient food.
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