Amazing footage of a rare interaction between a hippo and some rhinos was captured near the Mala Mala airstrip by Mike Kirkland, Head Ranger of one of South Africa’s oldest private game reserves.
According to Latest Sightings, Mike explained that because of the drought many hippos had left the area and perhaps this one was lonely and curious. One particular rhino appears to be very patient with the hippo’s pseudo-aggressive advances but eventually, it puts its horn down and gives chase. Fortunately, it seems that the rhino was not dead set on giving chase as a hippo has a top speed of about 30km/h while a rhino can reach about 50km/h.
‘I don’t think it had anything to do with food or resource disputes as we were far from the river and there was no grass on the runway to fight over – I think this hippo may have simply been lonely and bored or simply curious,’ said Mike.
After watching the interaction for a while, Mike continued back to camp. ‘I’m not sure what the final outcome of the interaction would have been but we never saw any injured animals afterwards so I can only assume that it ended peacefully. As you can see in the video, it is not an overly aggressive meeting, but more of confused one,’ he said.
Image: Screenshot/YouTube
