Going ashore can beat lions, going down the river can scare away crocodiles, and the most deadly wild animal in Africa is hippos. With a meek-sounding name and a cute looking skin, it's a violent temper.
Hippos are actually a standard herbivore, in addition to sleeping, more time is spent grazing, eating 80 kilograms of grass a day. In general, herbivores are relatively weak, often lions, hyenas, crocodiles and other beasts of prey, but hippos are an exception, and a very exaggerated exception.
The skin of the hippopotamus is 5 centimeters thick, which is the cortex formed after protein aging, layer by layer accumulates on the surface of the hippopotamus' skin, and this has become the strongest defense of the hippopotamus, even if it is as strong as a lion, it is difficult to bite through such thick skin in an instant to cause fatal damage to the hippopotamus, even if the hippopotamus does not move, the lion will lie on it and bite around, it is difficult to hurt the hippopotamus, but let the lion reveal a feeling like licking a lollipop...
And the defense of the hippopotamus is from beginning to end, the African second brother hyena prefers to take out the anus, because most animals have weak defense, but in the face of hippos, hyenas are completely useless even if they use their own stunts, hippos don't care at all, but such thick skin also makes hippos not easy to dissipate heat, can only wait in the water for a long time.
In the water, the hippopotamus will encounter another fierce enemy, the crocodile. Crocodiles and hippos are the most intense hedges here in the Mara River, it stands to reason that herbivores should be defeated, but hippos are very irritable, often with crocodiles, hippos bite force is more than 800 kilograms, the situation is not right, crocodiles can only escape with their tails between their legs.
Hippos are the most murderous wild animal in Africa, why is it so cranky?
Hippos are typical herbivores, not interested in meat, especially human flesh, in fact, not at all, but hippos also have a very strong sense of territory, as long as it encounters any animal, including humans close to its territory, it will put away the slow appearance when eating grass, and its eyes show a terrifying fierce light. Unfortunately, the extent of the hippopotamus' territory is difficult to determine.
Generally, hippos live in water, but grazing must go to the ground, and the way for hippos to circle the territory is to flick feces with their tails, and the places that smell of its feces are its territory. In fact, hippopotamus feces is like a biochemical weapon, an adult hippopotamus, can pull out 9 tons of feces a year, hippos and no awareness of cleaning up feces, these things will be piled up in the river, the most unlucky is the small fish in the river, many fish will be smoked alive.
Around 2000, scientists suddenly found that many fish were smoked to death, and at first they thought that some country was secretly pouring sewage nearby, but they did not find out for several years, until scientists found these 4,000 hippos, a manure machine. These pollutants leave the water without oxygen, and many fish die alive.
And if you once strayed into the territory of the hippopotamus, it will be bad, because the hippopotamus will keep chasing you, although it looks fat and clumsy, but the hippopotamus running speed can reach 40 kilometers per hour, being hit by a hippopotamus is like being hit by an SUV, without professional rescue, it is really difficult for the average person to come out alive.
So in the land of Africa, are there natural enemies of hippos?
The biggest natural enemy of hippos should be African elephants, or in other words, in Africa, no animal can beat African elephants, after all, African elephants are 4 meters tall and weigh 11 tons, and hippos are about 3 tons at most. In the face of absolute body size suppression, no tricks are useful. Perhaps there is a fact that explains everything, that is, hippos will actively avoid elephants, and when they see elephants, hippos will tacitly choose to leave.
During the dry season in Africa, many animals will look for puddles, and hippos will silently leave when they see elephants even in puddles, and will not return until the elephants drink water and leave.
Another natural enemy of hippos is humans. Although ordinary people do not have enough bites for hippos, people with weapons are another order of magnitude, people hunt hippos for its fat and flesh, and hunt about 30,000 in 10 years. However, hippopotamus meat does not seem to be very delicious, except for the local African indigenous people who are accustomed to eating, it is difficult for others to eat accustomed, it is said that hippopotamus meat is difficult to cook soft, and the taste is very choking, and it cannot be suppressed with seasoning.
Now in some zoos, there will also be the presence of hippos, feeding hippos to eat is simple and rude, half a watermelon, a watermelon thrown down, there is no need to worry about the hippopotamus being choked, the hippopotamus will bite in one bite. The violent temper of the hippopotamus has not converged even in the zoo, and the keeper goes in to collect the feces of the hippopotamus and is careful to prevent the hippopotamus from suddenly bursting out, however, the Indians seem to have special means of training the hippopotamus, the hippopotamus has a temper, the Indian keeper slapped back with two slaps, and I don't know how to do it.
