Monster Monday: Hippos on a Rampage
Monday, August 8th, 2016August 8, 2016
In 2014, a small boat in the African country of Nigeria was attacked by an enormous creature. The beast capsized the boat and killed 13 of its occupants, mostly schoolchildren. Only a half dozen people escaped. What animal caused such terrible destruction? A crocodile? A shark? A swimming lion? In fact, it was a hippopotamus.
The hippopotamus is the third largest animal that lives on land. Only the elephant and rhinoceros are larger. A large hippopotamus may weigh as much as 5,800 pounds (2,600 kilograms). Hippopotamuses live in central, southern, and western Africa. They live close to water and spend much time in it. Hippopotamuses somewhat resemble elephants and rhinoceroses with their large size and thick grey skin, but they are in fact more closely related to whales. They are herbivores, meaning that they eat mainly plants.
Hippopotamuses are extremely territorial, and this territoriality can cause them to attack other large animals—including humans—that have come onto their turf. Mother hippos will also attack if they think an interloper is threatening to their young. An angry hippo will use its giant head as a hammer to smash its foe, or bite with its tusklike canines, which can protrude up to a foot (30 centimeters) from its jaws. Adversaries caught by surprise out in the water rarely escape. Furthermore, hippos can chase perceived threats onto land, where they can run some 20 miles (32 kilometers) per hour—as fast as a human being. At least 200 people die from hippo attacks every year.
Hippos play a vital role in the ecosystem because of their ability to “unlock” the nutrients from aquatic vegetation. Each hippo consumes up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of aquatic vegetation a day. It then defecates much of this matter into the rivers and lakes in which it lives. Fish are attracted to hippo territories to consume this nutritious dung. The presence of large schools of fish in turn draws other animals, such as birds and crocodiles, to the sites. Without the presence of hippos, these thriving communities wouldn’t form.
Despite the danger that hippos pose to humans, humans pose far more danger to hippos. Humans compete with hippos for land, planting farms in areas that would be prime hippo habitats. Occasionally, hippos leave their territories to raid these nearby farms, eating crops and killing livestock. Angry farmers often respond by exterminating the hippos in their area as a form of revenge killing. Furthermore, hippopotamuses are poached for their massive tusks, which are a source of ivory. It will take a careful balance of conservation, community education, and land-use management to ensure that humans and hippos can coexist—and stay out of each other’s way.