What are the natural enemies of hippopotamus?

Hippopotamus is a mammal second only to African elephant, Asian elephant, African forest elephant, white rhino and Indian rhino on land. Its body is huge and clumsy. The body is covered by a thick skin, blue-black, with brick-red markings. Except for some short hair on the tail, there is almost no hair on the body. Let's take a look at the natural enemies of the hippopotamus.

What are the natural enemies of hippopotamus?

Hippopotamus has no natural enemies in nature. The hippopotamus is the third runner-up among terrestrial animals, second only to elephants and rhinos, reaching 3 tons, with a total length of 3.8 to 4.6 meters, a tail length of 0.6 meters, shoulder height of 1.5 meters, and two large lower canine teeth. Even the fiercest crocodiles in their habitat dare not hire hippopotamus easily, so they have no natural enemies, but the cubs may be killed by ferocious males or attacked by crocodiles. The only natural enemy of the hippopotamus is human itself, which has been hunted and killed by humans because of its ivory tusks, skin and flesh.

What kind of food does hippopotamus eat?

The hippopotamus is a herbivore, but its sparse fangs are ten centimeters long. the female hippopotamus is very aggressive in the field to protect the little hippopotamus, moving in pairs or in small groups, and the elderly males often move alone. Almost all day, they sleep or rest in or near the river, come out to eat at night, sometimes swim more than 30 kilometers along the river to find food, mainly feed on aquatic plants, occasionally feed on land crops, mainly grass, and sometimes go to the fields to eat crops. When there is a shortage of food, they will also take the initiative to prey on other herbivores, with a daily intake of more than 80 kilograms.

Population status of hippopotamus

The main common threats to hippopotamus are illegal and unlimited hunting for meat and teeth and habitat loss. Illegal hunting is considered to be the most serious war in the field of habitat. During more than eight years of civil strife and fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the local hippopotamus population has declined by more than 95%, and widespread poaching of meat has also been reported from Burundi and C ô te d'Ivoire. For countries with a high proportion of common hippopotamus population reserves, the rate of decline is much lower, so habitat conservation should be rewarded and penalties for illegal poaching should be put in place. Hippopotamus has been listed in the World Conservation Union (IUCN) ver3.1:2012 Mammal Red list-vulnerable (VU).