You probably wouldn’t want to get caught accidentally catapulting toward a hippopotamus mid-yawn or at precisely the moment that it’s demonstrating how cranky it’s feeling (as this guy appears to be doing). As Mother Nature’s third largest mammal (aside from elephants and whales) weighing in at between 3,000 to 4,000 pounds, the curiously pig-like in appearance water/earth dwelling creature has ridiculously massive teeth, which seem somewhat excessive given the fact that it consumes a mostly herbivore-based diet of grass and aquatic plants – up to 100 pounds daily, in fact. The entirely non-buoyant Hippopotamus amphibius – from the ancient Greek word for “river horse” – spends the majority of its life wading in water (rather than swimming) in order to reduce its body temperature and maintain proper skin hydration, coming up for air every 3 to 5 minutes.
Known to be rather aggressive, male hippos frequently tangle with other territorial bachelors who are vying for the attentions of their feminine love interests and not surprisingly, they can cause serious damage with their intimidating set of choppers. Sporting ivory teeth that grow 20 inches long, they posture or size up their competition by opening their mouths as much as 150 degrees wide (known as “gaping”) and can easily kill an opponent during a tussle. The last thing that a zebra should ever EVER do is hover around a pissy hippo with its mouth open wide enough to catch flies, and yet that’s exactly what recently happened between two Zurich Zoo residents. While hippos are not known to succumb to the temptation of a meat-based diet, it HAS happened on occasion…and let’s just put it this way -- zebras are more like the computer geeks of the wild kingdom (as opposed to sports jock hippos).
The above photo, captured by Jill Sonsteby, offers a fantastic example of an odd occurrence that isn’t likely to ever happen again...or maybe, just maybe it happens a lot more than we realize. Rather than feeling intimidated by the sight of a hippo's mouth gaping wide open, a daringly considerate zebra (with dental hygienist aspirations?) delivered diligent tooth cleansing services to the perfectly pleased as punch hippo for approximately 15 WHOLE MINUTES while stunned onlookers watched. The photographer who captured the whole display on film explained, “The zebra was in the same enclosure as the hippo and its baby. The hippo opened its mouth and let the zebra in there to clean. Everybody was snapping pictures. It was so great to be there at that moment." Clearly the two have an unspoken "You scratch my back, I refrain from chomping off your head" agreement. Perhaps a mani-pedi is next?
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