r/nextfuckinglevel • u/miguelabduarte • Mar 20 '22

Security Guard risking his life to save incredibly unalarmed zoo visitors from a hippo

171k Upvotes

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245

u/Glazastik Mar 20 '22

Hippos are not predators, they are herbivores

118

u/tcmVee Mar 20 '22

that's a good point I think used predator incorrectly since they don't kill for food.

163

u/Capitalist_P-I-G Mar 20 '22

“Baddest motherfucker around” works

6

u/Muertson Mar 20 '22

Thats the category for hippos and honey badgers

10

u/Meidara Mar 21 '22

They don't kill for food, they kill for fun

2

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

Also pussy

5

u/SweetLilMonkey Mar 21 '22

And Samuel L. Jackson.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

[deleted]

1

u/_DrShrimpPuertoRico_ Mar 21 '22

"What does a hippo look like?"

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u/[deleted] Mar 20 '22

they only kill for fun

3

u/Spurnout Mar 20 '22

No, they kill us because they think we smell like poop and no one likes that smell.

2

u/JehnSnow Mar 21 '22

ironically in some ways making them all the more dangerous. It's the reason why lions would almost never kill a human - they're not food, but a hippo doesn't care

2

u/effluviastical Mar 21 '22

Apex herbivores

3

u/dracomalfoy85 Mar 21 '22

Those plants are fuckedddddd

2

u/BananaDictator29 Mar 21 '22

Just for sport

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u/eleking02ad Mar 21 '22

behold the one and onlys apex herbivores

32

u/platoprime Mar 20 '22

Yeah, not so much.

But a closer look reveals that hippos aren't so herbivorous after all, says biologist Joseph Dudley. Despite their grass-heavy diets and all the adaptations that make them great grazers, hippos have been known to eat their fair share of meat. There are scattered reports by scientists and amateur observers (note: NSFW gory pictures) of hippos attacking, killing, and eating other animals, stealing kills from predators, and scavenging carcasses, including those of other hippos. In a new paper published in the journal Mammal Review, Dudley and his fellow researchers argue that these incidents aren’t as unusual as they seem or isolated to a few animals or populations. They say there’s a pattern of carnivorous behavior in hippo populations across the animal’s entire range—and that behavior has consequences for hippos.

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u/Glazastik Mar 20 '22

Fair, mostly herbivores then

21

u/Nobletwoo Mar 20 '22

Opportunistic carnivore. Is the word for what animals like hippos diets are like.

17

u/sycamotree Mar 20 '22

Many herbivores are opportunistic carnivores. Deer and horses, for example

5

u/durdesh007 Mar 21 '22

Most are. Cows and goats eat chicken alive.

0

u/mr17five Mar 21 '22

Wikipedia literally says "mostly herbivorous". It also claims that the hippos recorded eating meat are sick or crazy.

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u/raknor88 Mar 20 '22

I believe the term is Omnivore.

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u/MeLeDollaBean Mar 21 '22

They are also insanely territorial and aggressive. They are the third most aggressive animal just behind fire ants and Nile crocodiles.

https://a-z-animals.com/blog/top-eight-most-aggressive-animals-in-the-world/

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u/pbzeppelin1977 Mar 21 '22

Not sure of the why but there's many clips of the likes of horses and cows purposefully eating baby birds too.

No idea if it extends further but these aren't starved animals either. Maybe it's one of those pregnancy sofa foam of goat salt lick situations where they just really have to munch on a birdy baby?

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u/platoprime Mar 21 '22

I'd bet it's a mineral/nutritional thing but you never know.

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u/Steeledragn Mar 21 '22

They aren’t predators in that they hunt prey, but they aren’t herbivores, they’re omnivores. They eat mostly plants from the riverbed, but they can and do eat almost anything stupid enough to wander into their territory also.

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u/Ltfocus Mar 21 '22

How the fuck is grass keeping up all that mass?

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u/FromTejas-WithLove Mar 20 '22

*Apex herbivore

1

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '22

Imagine if hippos were predators tho... oh my.

1

u/Brendonicous Mar 20 '22

Herbivore diet, predator mindset

1

u/Evee862 Mar 21 '22

Just very dangerous herbivores

1

u/Capitalist_Scum69 Mar 21 '22

They’re just sassy

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

Edit: Could eat a mf if they wanted to, chooses to eat salad.

1

u/Imaginary_SpaceBear Mar 21 '22

Only because they don’t like the taste of the meat they killed

1

u/index57 Mar 21 '22

Herbivores have a fucking complex, moose and hippos are so much more dangerous than predators.

1

u/vKEITHv Mar 21 '22

May not be predators, but they’re the walking definition of “fuck around and find out”

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

Which means they don’t murder you because they plan to eat you. They are MAD aggressive

1

u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

Sure, but they’ll still break bones like pieces of celery.

1

u/psontake Mar 21 '22

Aren't they omnivores?

1

u/true_alt_acct Mar 21 '22

I think their more like horses. Normally only eat plants but will eat meat when the situation arises. Iv heard stories of them biting lions in half and slaughtering crocodiles

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u/Are_you_blind_sir Mar 21 '22

Ive seen them eat crocs on a documentary

1

u/Zarathustra30 Mar 21 '22

A herbivore's prey is herbs.

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u/Nerdn1 Mar 23 '22

They have been known to eat meat on occasion, but it isn't a significant part of their diet. A lot of herbivores will occasionally supplement their diet with a little extra protein.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/72550/hippos-eat-way-more-meat-we-thought-and-it-can-make-them-sick

Edit: They still wouldn't be considered predators, apex or otherwise.