I saw my first hippopotamus on a river in Africa while I was riding with our guide in a long dugout-style canoe. At first, only the hippo’s eyes broke water and then his massive head emerged.
Our guide told us hippos can’t swim, but they can walk along the bottom in shallow water and can hold their breath for about five minutes.
I thought the hippo overall looked a little comical and goofy, but that was misleading. Hippos are probably the deadliest killer in all of Africa and are responsible for over 500 human fatalities every year.
As our guide told us, “They just bite you in two.”
They do this by having a huge mouth measuring up to four feet when opened wide, and featuring sharp incisors in each jaw. Their bite force is three times as great as a lion’s.
The second largest land animal after the elephant, the hippopotamus has teeth that grow throughout its life, reaching a length of one foot, eight inches. These teeth are used for combat, not for eating. And when it is eating, the hippo’s diet consists mostly of grasses. Lots and lots of grasses — it can eat some 80 pounds of vegetation every day.
By the way, good luck if you try to outrun a hippo on land; it can sprint up to 25 miles per hour.
I enjoyed my sighting of a hippopotamus, but on looking back, I’ll have to admit — I’m darn glad that gentle giant did not ram our boat and bite me in two.
