Jacques Proust witnessed this unusual encounter and sent his video to Latest Sightings. He filmed it in the Greater Kruger Conservancy, in northeast South Africa.
Nocturnal liaisons
Aside from being massive animals, we don’t often associate white rhinos and hippos with one another. And so, it came as a surprise to Jacques and his companions when they witnessed this bizarre behaviour.
From the outset, it’s hard to explain what is going on, or to be more precise, why it is happening.
A lone hippo, thought to be fairly young, is seen interacting with a group of rhinos. Since it is nighttime, we can assume that the hippo was out foraging when it encountered the rhinos.
Gaping jaws
A standout behaviour of the hippo is its open jaws. Hippos typically gape in this way as a threat display, meant to intimidate others by showing off their dangerous canines.
Be that as it may, the posture seems to have little effect on the rhinos. This may be because rhinos have poor eyesight, which is probably not helped by the bright spotlights trained upon them.
Hippos, by contrast, have good night vision to help them navigate at night when they do most of their foraging.
Harassing hippo
By the looks of it, the hippo seems to be more invested in the interaction than the rhinos. While the rhinos seem only mildly interested in the interloper, it is the hippo that is constantly approaching and making threatening gestures.
We hear Jacques and his companion laugh as they debate whether the hippo thinks it is a rhino. If anything, it looks like the hippo is trying to scare the rhinos, but they just can’t be bothered to engage. At least to begin with.
Time and again, the hippo stands gaping before the rhino. And, just as consistently, the rhino shows little to no response to its antagonising behaviour.
Had enough
At one point, probably tired of the hippo’s constant harassment, the rhino tries running off. But, that only lasts as long as it takes for the hippo to catch up once more.
However, when the hippo continuously chases one of the rhinos, one of its herd mates decides to intervene and sets off after the hippo. At this point, we get to hear the seldom-heard bleating distress call of a rhino.
Tables turned
With the alarm given, the rhinos become visibly agitated. What we assume to be the herd bull then chases the hippo, attempting to jab it with its horn in the process.
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Thankfully for the hippo, it doesn’t appear to cause any injury.
After running around for a while, the hefty beasts tire, leading to another round of “In-your-face-face-off”.
Bizarrely, the hippo seems intent on engulfing the rhino’s horn with its mouth. Then, at other times, it seems to actively rub the horn between its lower teeth.
Robust runaround
What is most remarkable is that, for all the harm either of the species could do to the other, they are relatively restrained.
While it is unclear how long this interaction played out, aside from some mild agitation, neither species’ seems overly aggressive towards the other.
Fun to watch
If anything, their respective behaviour is curious, almost playful at times.
Whatever the case, it is just one of those incidents in Nature that are amazing to watch, even if we’re not quite sure what is going on or why.