Who would suspect these seemingly calm and plump animals? According to the latest counts, hippos are the deadliest land mammals, claiming about 500 lives a year in African countries. Its up to 2,750 kg of aggressiveness, with thrusts of 48 km / h, along with incredibly sharp fangs, are capable of destroying a human being in seconds. Knowing this, it is convenient to know … how to avoid being attacked by a hippopotamus?
First of all, it is important to know that the most conflictive of the two existing species is the amphibian hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius ), present in most sub-Saharan countries. The least aggressive is the severely threatened pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis ), which is distributed throughout the forests and swamps of West Africa.
Ironically, these pachyderms tend to be docile most of the time. However, they do not hesitate to change the chip and attack intruders if they feel threatened. Therefore, most of the attacks are due to an invasion of their territory , something that we must avoid at all costs. In addition, the fact of going by boat does not guarantee us to be protected, since these giants can sink them. For this reason, the majority of hippo fatalities are fishermen, usually with a low level of income, who are forced to share the waters with these giants in order to survive.
This past May 2020, due to heavy rains, Lake Naivasha, in Kenya, greatly increased its flow and flooded urban areas. The strong economic crisis in the country, due to the effects of COVID-19, forced fishermen to risk entering the water. In this situation, boats and hippos had a better chance of coinciding. As he explains in a Nat Geo report, the fisherman George Mwaura and his friend Babu entered the lake without a boat, as he could not afford it. When the water was up to their chests, they ran into one of the giants. “We hit the water with a stick until the hiccups went away,” says George. While they were removing the water nets, the animal returned and, although during his life Babu had managed to escape four hippo attacks, he did not manage to survive the fifth. That same year there were 40 hippo attacks on the lake, in which 14 people died.
Unfortunately, human-animal conflicts (HWC) are on the rise globally, due to competition for territory, water, and other natural resources. For example, in Zimbabwe hippos often wander and devour the fields near the river. Farmers attack them when trying to defend their land, a situation that can be fatal for both parties. For reasons like this, according to a study by the University of Zimbabwe published in the journal Human – Wildlife Interactions (HWI) , it is important to collect and work on the data of each attack in order to develop better management policies and strategies to mitigate the damage they cause. The hippos.
References:
Marowa, I., Matanzima, J., & Nhiwatiwa, T. (2021) Interactions Between Humans, Crocodiles, and Hippos at Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. Human – Wildlife Interactions: 15 (1) 25. Doi: https://doi.org/10.26077/765a-76f4
