Hippos are the classic stereotypes of fat and lazy. Find them by the lake during an African Safari, and you’ll see their round bodies chilling around, sleeping in mud with little birds resting on their heads and so on.
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Little do some people know, however, is the fact hippopotamusses hippopotami are actually incredibly fast animals, that can reach land speeds of up to 30 km/h. That’s more than enough speed to catch up on your average human. And that they do: more than 3 000 people are killed by these amazing creatures each year, making them one of the most dangerous animals on the planet.
Read more: Watch this lion effortlessly hunt down a buck with a GoPro strapped to it
Though, who knew hippos were so fast and aggressive in the water? Take a look for yourself:
This YouTube video above shot at Pangolin Photo Safaris in Kasana, Botswana shows a hippo rushing after a speedboat like a torpedo, almost capsizing the boat.
As some people have commented, the animal was likely disturbed by the loud motors of the boat or just protecting his young. Typical humans.
The video is trending around the same time when an in-depth report on humans’ impact on our oceans was published on ScienceMag. The study found that although “humans have caused few complete extinctions in the sea, but we are responsible for many ecological, commercial, and local extinctions.” Let’s hope commercial tourism in Southern Africa doesn’t lead to this.
