I sure hope it is house-broken.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Hippopotamus, Tame' to 'Hippopotamus, Tame, jessica, africa, south africa' - edited by kronosposeidon

It's especially odd because hippos are normally very aggressive towards humans, considered by many experts to be one of the most dangerous large animals in all of Africa.

Hippos are pretty quick on their feet.

The word "Hippopotamus" comes from Greek for "River Horse." The Greeks though them to be a relative of the horse, but recent research shows that their closest living relatives are actually whales.

I'm not terribly surprised that a hippo raised from birth around humans could be reasonably tame. Even though they are known to be very aggressive, they're still very intelligent.

>> ^rougy:
Hippos are pretty quick on their feet.


That they are, although the they aren't exactly distance runners, you'd still need a head-start on them.

>> ^Wikipedia:
Even though they are bulky animals, hippopotamuses can run faster than a human on land. Estimates of their running speed vary from 30 km/h (18 mph) to 40 km/h (25 mph), or even 50 km/h (30 mph). The hippo can maintain these higher speeds for only a few hundred meters.


Other neat facts:

On the National Geographic Channel television program, "Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr", Dr. Brady Barr measured the bite pressure of an adult female hippo at 1,821 lb (826 kg)

...

Their skin secretes a natural sunscreen substance which is red-colored. The secretion is sometimes referred to as "blood sweat," but is neither blood nor sweat. This secretion is initially colorless and turns red-orange within minutes, eventually becoming brown. Two distinct pigments have been identified in the secretions, one red (hipposudoric acid) and one orange (norhipposudoric acid). The two pigments are highly acidic compounds. Both pigments inhibit the growth of disease-causing bacteria; as well, the light absorption of both pigments peaks in the ultraviolet range, creating a sunscreen effect. All hippos, even those with different diets secrete the pigments, so it does not appear that food is the source of the pigments. Instead, the animals may synthesize the pigments from precursors such as the amino acid tyrosine.


Cool!