Lisa Powers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Perhaps they should rename the game “Angry, Angry Hippos.”
One of the latest viral videos takes us on a boat ride down the Chobe River in Botswana, Africa. As you stare at the water, you can see something big is coming towards the boat, and it’s moving fast. The driver of the boat speeds up and the video switches to slow motion as a big hippo lunges out of the water. Even not being there, it kinda loosens your bowels.
“The video was taken by my son Craig Clive Jackson while we were on a photo safari with Pangolin Photo Safaris in Kasana, Botswana,” said David Jackson. “Do yourself a favor, if you enjoy wildlife photography as an amateur or professional, you must do one of these photo safaris, they even provide you with a camera and large zoom lens.”
We’ll jump right on it! Not! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su7GkqwxG08)
But they’re just hippos! you’re saying. They’re not so bad!
Hippos are known as the most dangerous animal in Africa. Forget snakes, sharks, crocs, alligators: Hippos are what you should really worry about! Hippos kill an average of 2900 people a year in Africa.
Standing 5.2 feet (1.6 m) tall at the shoulder and growing from 10.8 to 16.5 feet (3.3 to 5 meters) long, the giant males can weigh as much as 9,920 lbs. (4,500 kg). Hippos are known to gallop at speeds up to 18 mph on land.
Despite spending up to 16 hours a day in the water, hippos cannot swim because of their dense bodies, and must either walk or push themselves off the bottom to move forward in deeper water.
But why so angry? Even crocodiles know to steer clear of the beasts.
The predominant theory is that, due to limited habitat, hippos have to be aggressive to survive. Hippos are very territorial and do not tolerate intruders, including tourists with big cameras and boats. Males form harems and aggressively defend their females from other males. Females will defend their babies. This aggression has served them well over the millions of years they have been around and have gained them the title of the most aggressive animal.
Native to sub-Saharan Africa, did you know that hippos can also be found in Colombia, South America? The late Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar, had a captive herd of hippos that have not only survived, but thrived. The hippos mostly live in a lake on an 8 square mile park that also was home to elephants, giraffes and other exotic animals. The other animals were dispersed to zoos in the early 1990’s, but the hippos had nowhere to go and were left behind. The original four imported hippos have multiplied to an estimated 50-60 animals with some making their way to the Magdalena River. No one is quite sure what to do about the growing and dangerous problem.
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