I filmed this hippo last year at Lake Panic Hide in Kruger National Park, fortunately from a good distance…
Big male hippos use their tails to flick their poo around to send a clear and smelly signal to other hippos. It’s usually only done by males and certainly comes across as a very yucky ‘boy thing’, but it’s not unheard of for females to do it as an expression of submission.
“Um… what are hippos doing on Vanishing Species?
There seems to be squillions of them.”
Despite seeming incredibly abundant in places, the hippo population has actually decreased dramatically (by as much as 20%) since 1996.
Ongoing habitat loss, ivory poaching and human-hippo conflict (which never ends well) have all contributed to the decline.
The Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species as “vulnerable”. Population trend: decreasing.
EWWW!!! Although, it’s still not quite as nasty as the little fishies that live off of hippo poo. Those little guys have a field day cleaning a hippos backside! Do you have any idea if pigmy hippos display the same behavior, or what their population status is?
Great question! I’m not sure whether the pygmy hippo (hippopotamus liberiensis) actually sprays its poo…
They do however live solitary or in pairs, so not like the common hippo, so we could expect a lot of their behaviour to be different.
Pygmy hippos are found in west africa and IUCN lists them as endangered, with perhaps only 2000 remaining.
Ooh and about those little fishes: all sorts of things feed on the fantastic nutrients that are found in hippo poo.
Hippos leave the water at night to feed on delicious grasses and often poo in the water.
Hippos actually have a very important role to play in introducing nutrients into aquatic environments.
Ah, very interesting!!!! Thanks for the info!
Well this is just another reason for me to never get too close to a hippo haha.