Most people do not realize that hippos are more dangerous to man than lions and tigers
On Saturday, a Kenyan fisherman was killed by a hippo on Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley.
Just a few hours later, Chinese tourist Chang Ming Chuang, 66, was taking pictures of a hippo at the shores of the same lake when suddenly the beast up and killed him.
Their deaths brought to six the number people who have been killed by hippos around Lake Naivasha so far this year. The lake is located 56 miles southeast of Nairobi.
Hippos in the wild are easily annoyed. Hippos pose the greatest danger to humans, far more so than lions and tigers. There have been many hippo attacks in which people, including park rangers, have lost their lives.
The beasts are amazingly fast, considering their bulk. Hippos are known to outswim a fast moving motor boat and on land, they can run a lot faster than man.
So when you go to your local zoo, you can take pictures of the docile hippos. You can even climb on a retaining wall and reach over to spank a hippo on its rear. The idiot who gave hippo Rosie a swat at the Los Angeles Zoo recently did not get hurt, but now instead of a hippo being after him, the cops are after him for trespassing.
But beware in the wild! Taking a hippo’s picture might piss him off and you could end up in the hospital or morgue. You could even be left at the scene of your demise for the hyenas and vultures to feast on your rotting carcass, leaving just your crushed bones.
3 comments:
I don't tread where I'm not the top of the food chain unless heavily armed and maybe not even then.
Hippos are not carnivorous. They are vegetarians. When they attack man, they do so because something pissed them off. When these pachyderms catch up to some fool who got too close to them, they knock him down and then stomp his happy ass into the ground.
I have heard both that Hippos are pure herbivores and that they are omniverous. With the teeth they have they are certainly PRIMARILY herbivores. Never the less they are VERY dangerous and kill a lot of people, mostly natives, in Africa. Peter Hathaway Capstick wrote more than a little bit about them in one of his excellent books on dangerous critters.
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