Nature, with all its beauty and serenity, also harbors its share of brutality, and the Nile crocodile is a stark reminder of this fact. In a recent video shared by the Nature is Metal community, the savage nature of this prehistoric predator is laid bare as a colossal crocodile indulges in a gruesome feast – a baby hippopotamus, just a few minutes old. Brace yourself and see it unfold below, but proceed with caution.
“Even though hippopotami are some of the most temperamental, mean, and downright dangerous animals on planet Earth, it’s still heart-wrenching to witness a newborn baby hippo meeting its end in the jaws of a prehistoric death machine,” the caption poignantly notes. “This might sound incredible, but this newborn, only minutes old, baby hippo weighs between 90 and 110 lbs. This is a significant catch for the crocodile; the enigma lies in how it managed to seize this young life from the watchful and fiercely protective grip of its mother.”
The short yet chilling clip is credited to two distinct Instagram accounts: @the.wildlife.side and @governorscampcollection. It was filmed along the Mara River, a tributary of the Nile River that courses through the heart of Kenya and Tanzania. Frankie Adamson, the wildlife photographer behind the lens, reflects on the scene, saying, “[the baby hippo] appeared to still have the umbilical cord attached. It just goes to show that crocodiles will seize any opportunity for a quick meal, even if it means snatching it away from a formidable Hippo mother.”
Fully grown hippos are mammoth creatures, weighing close to 10,000 pounds and measuring up to 16 feet in length. The maternal instinct of female hippos is legendary, and the species as a whole is infamous for being the most perilous among the African megafauna. Previous videos have captured adult hippos fiercely defending their young, warding off, and even dispatching crocodiles that dared to threaten their offspring or encroach upon their territory.
Governors’ Camp Collection, a Kenya-based travel company that shared a different version of Adamson’s video, states that such encounters are relatively rare along the Mara River, where hippos and crocodiles coexist, usually without direct conflict. “As opportunistic as crocodiles are – they will often avoid hippos,” Governors’ Camp Collection notes, underscoring the awareness that crocodiles possess about the formidable and aggressive nature of an enraged hippo.
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