Читать книгу The World's Most Dangerous Animals - Kevin Baker Baker - Страница 7

A hippo’s skull showing its dangerous canines and incisors. Image author: Raul654.

At first glance, the hippo looks like a big, cuddly animal. It is all roly-poly round curves with a silly-looking toothy smile. They look like they are ready to hop into a children’s movie and appear adorable. The word hippopotamus means ‘horse of the river’ in Greek, and horses are some of the nicest animals on Earth. In fact, because hippos spend most of their lives in water, it seems like they should hardly be a concern to people at all.

The hippopotamus is native to the mid and southern regions of Africa. The hippo spends its whole life in the water, except for when they were eating. They leave the water at dusk and sometimes wander as far as six miles inland. They are typically vegetarians, though on rare occasions they have been seen eating carrion, and will eat up to 150 pounds of food in a night. They are considered as a vulnerable animal as they are often hunted and everything about this animal points to it being a harmless cuddly delight.

However, these goofy looking animals are notoriously bad tempered. The mature male bulls are aggressive and territorial, and the females will do anything to protect their young calves. It makes sense, really as Africa is home to some of the most dangerous and notorious predators in the animal kingdom. Young hippos are often prey to crocodiles, lions and the like, but the adults are protected by their massive size and grumpy nature. There have been reports of crocodiles being chased out of the water or even killed by hippopotamuses.

That’s not all, as hippos are also sometimes remarkably aggressive towards people. Because of their territorial tendencies, they have been known to attack humans in boats and also on land without any provocation at all. Among the large animals in Africa, they are considered one of the most dangerous. Approximately 200 people die from hippo attacks every year.

Interestingly, hippos rarely kill each other. Despite being extremely territorial, the hippos will stop fighting once they realize which one is stronger. Rarely, bulls might try to kill the infants, but this is not normal behaviour. There are also some very, very rare instances of hippo cannibalism, likely involving sick or distressed animals.

There are several things a person can do to avoid or be safer around hippos. Although occasionally these attacks happen without provocation, the iconic big mouth yawn is a sure sign of impending aggression. Should you be planning to spend time around rivers in Africa, keep an eye and ear out for oxpeckers as they are a sign that hippos could be near. Tap the side of the boat to let them know where you are so that they don’t come up under you and knock your boat over. If you see hippos, keep plenty of space in between your boat and the animal, especially if there appear to be large numbers of them. On foot, keep away from thickets that could hide a hippo. And finally, you could use a tree or termite mound as cover if necessary.