Page 14 - World of Animals - Issue #29

Attack of the hippo

What makes the hippo so dangerous?

Responsible for more human deaths than any other, this mammal is one of the planet’s deadliest
A hippo’s life is relatively peaceful. By day they wallow
lazily in rivers and lakes, and then venture onto land
to graze at night. They have few natural predators
and rarely struggle to find food, with each hippo

consuming 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of grass per
evening. From afar, few would guess that a hippo
presents any risk. Yet these water-dwellers kill
almost 3,000 humans each year, making them
one of the world’s most dangerous mammals.
Despite their vegetarian status, hippos can easily
take down a carnivore. Just a glimpse of the long,
curved teeth can make a predator think twice. With
their eyes and ears above the surface, hippos can
emit warning calls about predators to each other
that cannot be heard above the water. Male hippos

fiercely defend territories and during a fight with a
trespasser they will grip the opponent’s neck between
the teeth – their teeth can grow to 50 centimetres (20
inches) in length. These battles can be fatal and even
the smell of a dominant male’s dung is enough to
send a featherweight challenger home. For females,
the driving force for aggression is the urge to protect
their young. Adult hippos will go to almost any length
to keep their babies safe from predators such as
crocodiles. A hippo has poor eyesight, so the best
way to repel an intruder is to charge at full speed
and hope for the best.

Hippos in numbers

55 115 40 36 3,000

10KM million DECIBELS YEARS TEETH 1% HUMANS
The number
The distance a Years since the Intensity of The average The number of Percentage of its of humans killed
body weight
hippo can walk in hippo diverged sound in a life span of teeth inside an adult a hippo eats by hippos
an evening from its relatives hippo’s bellow a hippo hippo’s mouth per day each year

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