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Africa
Travel Newsletter > Hippos - Heavyweights of Africa's Waterworld
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1.2 Hippos – Heavyweights
of Africa’s Waterworld
Hippos are not very
imaginative and tend to leave water and return on the same path after a
grazing session. They create trenches with their massive weight, and
this has over time changed the course of many waterways.
Spending most of their time in water, these giants do all they have to
do in water; they mate, give birth and even suckle their young under
water. On reaching sexual maturity, cows will accept the attention of
the strongest bulls in their territory. Gestation takes 8 months. They
give birth to one calf at a time, and may take another 2 years before
mating again. Immediately after birth, the little calves swim to the
surface for their first breath.
At birth, the little ones weigh a hefty 270 kg, and are about 2.5 ft
long and stand at 1.6 ft. Amazingly, they can walk well within 5
minutes after birth. They get a lot of attention and good care from
their mothers - for hippo cows are among the best parents in the animal
kingdom.
Hippos are graceful swimmers, and an adult can clock 8 km/h under
water. They no doubt find the water very pleasant and relaxing and
spend virtually the entire day submerged, resurfacing every 6 to 8 min
to catch a breath. Hippos can be quite photogenic; Vicky Stone and Mark
Deeble -Emmy award-winning filmmakers took some amazing hippo pictures
for the 2003 BBC Wildlife Magazine.
The duo spent an agonising 9 months trying film the beast under water,
until they finally managed to get a few pictures at Mzima Springs in
Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park. These pictures reveal the hippo
in his majesty as king of the underwater world: they open their mouths
and lesser animals such as Labeo fish swarm in to clean their teeth.
Nile hippos are gregarious beings living in groups of 15, and up to as
many as 40 individuals. These groups are called schools, bloats or
herds. They are governed by a supple social system defined by hierarchy
and availability of food and water. The herd is generally headed by an
alpha bull, which is backed by a vanguard of other adult males. Females
and their young form a crèche at the centre, behind the bulls.
Young bachelor bulls form a ring, called a refuge, around the
crèche in preparation for a position on the frontline someday.
Hippos communicate with each other both in and out of water in
pitches not easily picked up by the human ear. In audible sounds,
they wheeze and honk; at other times they will gesture with a yawn, by
shaking of the head or by ladling water. Whenever a hippo does its
customary yawn, take this as a gesture of aggression.
Hippos look quite friendly and cuddly; at other times they appear
flabby and lazy. But do not be deceived: they are quite aggressive
and have been known to kill more humans on encounter than any other
wild animal. You are advised not to put your running skills to the
test against a hippo, for they easily outrun humans irrespective of
their bulk. They can maintain a running speed of up to 50 km/h for
a few hundred meters with ease.
The cause of their aggression is attributed to their territorial
nature, particularly in water. When they feel threatened, their young
endangered or their livelihood encroached, they become extremely
aggressive. To be fair, this kind of hostility is not only directed
towards humans and other animals, but also against their own kind. Cows
can be pretty belligerent and while defending their young have been
known to fight and kill bulls much bigger than themselves.
Aggressive behaviour can come out in male hippos on the onset of the
mating season. During these times fighting gets quite brutal, though
rarely fatal. They don’t fight to kill but rather try out their
strength to prove their masculinity. The winners’ prize is the
chance to propagate his genes. The loser usually lives to try his
chances in the next season; but not without numerous lacerations, a few
broken bones and a wounded ego. At other times males fight for
territorial control, and the winner dominates the area.
In times of catastrophe such as droughts or when overpopulation sets
in, social hierarchies become dysfunctional, bringing out the worst in
hippos. In a 2004 report in NewScientist.com, scientists reported
witnessing hippos eating their own kind in Uganda’s Queen
Elizaeth National Park. Many other African hippos have also displayed
anomalous, unpredictable behaviour, but cannibalism among herbivores is
a bizarre happening.
In 1928, a hippo named Huberta from Zululand, inspired by some
strange whim, left her lagoon and embarked on a great southwards
trek. She attracted worldwide attention, and much admiration and
was declared Royal Game- not to be captured or hunted. She reached
East London in 1931, having trekked 1600 km and crossed 122 rivers.
She was eventually shot by 3 hunters who were ignorant of her
celebrity status.
Another hippo that took the international media by storm was a baby
hippo that was displaced by the December 2004 Tsunami. Named Owen after
his rescuer, the 1-year old hippo was taken to Haller Park,
a nature sanctuary close to Mombasa in Kenya. On arrival at the
park, Owen immediately befriended a 130 years old–Aldabran
tortoise known as Mzee –‘old man’ in Swahili.
The unlikely and true friendship of Owen and Mzee inspired 6-year-old
Isabella Hatkoff to write a story about it. With the help of her father
Craig Hatkoff, park director Dr. Paula Kahumbu and Peter Greste, her
effort eventually resulted in 3 books: Owen & Mzee: The True Story
Of A Remarkable Friendship; Owen & Mzee: Language Of Friendship,
and Owen And Mzee: Best Friends. A fourth one, Owen And Mzee: Friends
Forever is planned. A diary of Owen’s life at the park is kept
and constantly updated by Haller Parks’ chief animal caretaker at
www.lafargeecosystems.com.
Hippos in the wild continue to face challenges that threaten their very
existence. Loss of habitat continues to bite hard as land is taken up
for development and cultivation. Conflict has arisen with farmers and
fishermen who kill the animals to reduce competition for resources.
Hunting of hippos is also common, especially for their ivory teeth-,
which fetch a pretty price in the wake of the trade ban imposed on
elephant ivory.
The animal is also hunted for its meat and skin by locals, and is
pursued as trophy by big game hunters and collectors. The hippo was in
1995 listed on CITES Appendix II to keep a check on the trade in hippo
products. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) in 2006 alerted the world
that the common hippopotamus is in serious danger of extinction, and
placed it on the IUCN Red List.
The common hippo can be seen in many game parks and reserves
throughout Africa. You can catch a glimpse of it on a Kenyan safari at
the Mara and Talek Rivers in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Other good
hippo spots include: Ngorongoro Crater – Tanzania, Queen
Elizabeth National Park –Uganda, Okavango Delta and Chobe River
–Botswana, and Kruger National Park – South Africa. The
largest hippo population in Africa can however be found in
Zambia’s Luangwa Valley.
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