Interactions between animals in the wild can run the whole spectrum between scary, amusing, or just plain strange. A hippo using a rhino’s horn as a toothpick definitely seems to reach for the latter end of that scale.
Jacques Proust caught these animals on video and sent the footage to Latest Sightings. Having met each other in the darkness, the two animals didn’t seem like they were going to be friends.
Strangers In The Night
The two animals had come across each other after the sun had set, and while they might not have been getting along super well, they hadn’t started a fight with each other yet.
In fact the rhino looked like it was just trying to enjoy some late night grazing before the hippo came along and decided that this was an activity that required some supervision.
The hippo had likely been browsing the weeds itself, as they often emerge from their water after dark to graze on the plants in the area, but upon coming across the rhino it stopped focusing on food.
See More Amazing Sightings
To make sure you don’t miss out on strange and unexpected sightings, like this hippo taking advantage of the rhino’s horn, click the button above to join our WhatsApp group!
Outnumbered
The hippo appeared to be alone, but there was an entire herd of rhino now grazing on the grass, and if it was going to maintain its space this hippo would have its work cut out for it.
At one point it looked like one of the rhinos was poking the hippo in its hindquarters with its long horn, but it’s possible the hippo was just being dramatic as it threw its head in the air and hurried away.
It didn’t leave for more than a few seconds though, as it came back with its mouth wide open, getting up close and personal to the rhinos, trying to stop them from advancing even further into its territory.
An Attempt At Intimidation
Famous for being much faster and stronger than their size would suggest, hippos can be very protective of their territories, particularly the water. It’s likely this herd of rhinos had crossed the invisible boundary that this hippo used to denote its own space.
Against smaller animals, hippos can use their size and strength to intimidate, but a rhino is too big to be perturbed by this, which meant the hippo had to use some other methods.
The simplest way for the hippo to do this was to display its most powerful weapon, its huge mouth with its enormous teeth. By opening its jaws wide the hippo let the rhino know that it was in danger, despite looking a little goofy.
Get our Best Sightings as they Come in
Can’t See What’s Happening
Despite the hippo’s attempts to intimidate, the herd of rhino just didn’t really react at all. After the first few minutes they didn’t even seem to put any effort into getting the hippo to leave them alone and instead they let it run around doing its own thing.
With their notoriously poor eyesight it’s entirely possible that most of the rhinos didn’t even know the hippo was there and bothering the other members of the herd.
One rhino played a merry game of chase with the hippo to try and make it leave them alone but the hippo came right back and, instead of leaving, opened its mouth wide and used the rhino’s long horn to pick its teeth.
After this ultimate insult the rhino decided it was better off just leaving itself, leaving the hippo to do its own thing undisturbed for the night, and finding somewhere elsewhere to graze.
