Tourists can get up close and personal with wildlife when they stay in safari camps at Kruger National Park. You never know who might be wandering by the watering hole as you enjoy an outdoor dining experience. However, it’s best to be on your toes as wildlife encounters can sometimes be intense. A video from the YouTube Channel, Capture The Wild, out of the Kruger National Park, shows what happens when some unexpected safari guests arrive at the campsite. Two angry male hippos have a standoff while campers nervously watch the fight and hope for the best.
A male hippo’s bite strength is more powerful than a lion’s.
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Bull Hippo Characteristics: Size, Weight, and Power
The people in the video are attempting to keep their distance from the fighting bull hippos. It’s no wonder they were cautious, as the hippo is one of the largest mammals in the world. Males can weigh from 3,500 to 9,920 pounds. Females are a little smaller, coming in at about 3,000 pounds.
Hippos are highly territorial and will fight for the rights to nearby watering holes.
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Hippos may look cute with their round bodies and stubby legs, but they can be surprisingly powerful and aggressive. Hippos have long and sharp canine and incisor teeth that grow continuously. They use the teeth in the back of their mouth (molars and premolars) for chewing their food. Their long front teeth, however, are used for defense and fighting other hippos.
Not only do they have a mouth full of sharp teeth, but hippos can open their jaws 180 degrees wide. When they clamp down, their bite is nearly three times that of a lion.
Why Male Hippos Fight
In the video, a group of people relaxing at a camp in the Kruger National Park are taken by surprise when two male hippos come charging in. The hippos aren’t interested in the people, but are battling each other. The campers stand back as the bulls open their jaws as wide as possible and butt heads against each other. At one point in the video, one hippo sprayed dung around the area, making the safari rest spot a suddenly less pleasant space for dining.
Tourists got a surprise in South Africa when two uninvited (and angry) guests joined their campsite.
©Capture The Wild / YouTube – Original
Male hippos are territorial and will fight each other for mating rights. They will fight more often during dry periods when resources are scarce. They often fight over the rights to a watering hole, which gives them access to the female hippos that live there. Most likely, the two hippos in the video were fighting over territory and mating rights.
Territory Resolution: Who Claims Victory
Male hippos battle fiercely and can be severely wounded during their confrontations. Bulls living in the wild are often seen with scars from previous battles. When male hippos fight, they face each other head-on with jaws wide open. They slash and bite, trying to get the upper hand. They also spray dung to mark territory and assert their dominance. They do this by wildly whipping their fan-shaped tails around to spread their feces as far as possible.
The winner is the hippo that doesn’t back down. The losing hippo will display submissive behaviors and leave the area if it’s not too wounded to do so.
Reading Hippo Body Language
Hippos communicate through vocalization and body language. Males assert dominance by yawning, which shows off their powerful jaws, tusks, and incisors. They will shake their head, roar, lunge, and chase to show aggression. On the other hand, when a hippo wants to show submissiveness to an aggressor, it may lie down or flee. Slow tail wagging can also show submission.
Game Camp Realities: Coexistence Challenges
Hippos can run up to 18 miles per hour on land.
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Although the fighting hippos in the video didn’t seem threatened by the humans at the camp, or even notice them at all, it was a dangerous situation. Hippos can be wildly unpredictable, and these two were in a heightened state. According to National Geographic, a person has an 86.7% chance of dying if attacked by a hippo. That’s higher than sharks, which is only 25%, and even lions at 75%.
We don’t know the exact number of human deaths from hippo attacks per year, but National Geographic estimates it could be anywhere from 500 to 3,000. Once a hippo has you in its sights, it’s difficult to escape. Despite their rotund appearance, hippos are fast on land, reaching speeds of up to 19 miles per hour.
While African safaris give people an amazing opportunity to witness wildlife in their own habitats, it’s important to stay safe and always listen to the guides. You never know what unpredictable situation you may find yourself in when you’re amid African wildlife.
