If you're guessing the 'king' of the bushveld(Lion) you are horribly, horribly wrong. Nor are you even close to warm...especially if your second guess is of any other wildcat variety!
In fact, this mystery creature quite enjoys the cold himself...
If your third guess is crocodile you are still way WAY off!
Give up yet?
No?
Ok here is the final clue: it rhymes with 'whip-slow'
Yes, that's right, the most dangerous animal on the African continent - in terms of human casualties - is the hippopotamus! Perhaps because of its seemingly docile nature and nocturnal feeding habits (leaving the water only in darkness) the hippo is quite misconceived in terms of popular conception as harmless or uninteresting. Especially when compared with other more notorious animals...
For example many 'know' that the cheetah is the fastest creature on earth. At 29 meters per second: it seems like a no brainer. However, that doesn't take into consideration that a) the cheetah doesn't 'run for fun' nor run at all - unless it is actively chasing dinner and 2) the cheetah actually tends not to run in a straight line when doing so, instead it zigs and zags. averaging about 15m/s for only 2 seconds. On the other hand hippos - despite not being predators - can still nonetheless chase you at speeds up to 14m/s (in a straight line) and will chomp you up even if it doesn't plan to eat you. It is, after all, a devout herbivore.
--------------------------
This distinction in speed becomes even more significant when you consider that the average weight of an adult male cheetah is only 28–65 kilograms (62–143 lbs) whereas the average weight for male Hippos is 1500-1800 kilograms(3306-3968 lbs)!
Here are some other cool hippo facts you probably didn't know!
- A hippo's closest relative is said to be the whale
- A hippo's jaws are not only capable of killing crocodiles, but splitting small boats in half!
- A hippo secretes it's own suncream! Originally, scientists thought that the secretion, which is coloured red, was blood. However, only after sneaking up to these creatures to collect the specimen(observing also that its colour changes from red to brown) did they discover that in fact, the hippo had its own SPF product on the market!..
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Upvoted and commented
as dangerous as they are, hippos are my younger sister's favorite animal hahaha. maybe it's because they're so dangerous that she likes them... I thought the breakdown of weight/speed was interesting, as I knew hippos were dangerous and could run fairly fast, but seeing the difference in mass between them and cheetahs really put into perspective how that must look when they're chasing you! Awesome photos too btw :D
I'm glad you found that interesting ( so did I when researching it). I (obviously) quite like hippos, but it's still curious to imagine it being someones favourite animal ;)
A really great, significant comment - thank you!
Very interesting! I had heard somewhere before that Hippo's were dangerous, but I had no idea they were the MOST dangerous. Splitting small boats in half! Whoa.
I'm incredibly glad you found this informative!
Great photos and nice inclusion of a little educational PSA! The ancient Egyptians used to fear hippos so much that they canonized them as the deity Set, which is kind of like their version of the devil. There was this ritual every year where the king, as the embodiment of Horus, would kill a hippo that was said to embody Set. Being mostly a river people, they hated hippos so much that they basically personified them as the devil lol.
Jeez. I'm actually obsessed with Egyptian mythos, but that one must of skipped me or hidden in the recesses of my memory somewhere. I'm relatively well acquainted with Set etc., but this is still news to me. I appreciate that tidbit!
-C
Glad to be of service:) It actually goes all the way back to the old kingdom. I've heard people theorize that Osiris was killed by a hippo and that that's where the Set story came from. As in he was literally killed by a hippo, but on some kind of metaphysical level it was actually Set who somehow caused his death. I can't speak to the validity of it, but I think it's an interesting idea.