Interesting Hippo Behaviour

Hippos with White Fronted Plover

Published : 19 May, 2015

Karen Paolillo filmed the Turgwe hippos going about their daily lives, grooming, gaping, dung scattering, relaxing.

You May Also Like…

Extraordinary Animal Behaviour

Extraordinary Animal Behaviour

This talk by Karen Paolillo author of 'Hippos, a mongoose and me' talks a little bit about some of the animals in the...

27 Comments

  1. Nancy Watkins

    Wow, best video yet!! Great shots of hippos in the wild! Thanks for all your hard work!! They look great this year!! Healthy. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  2. James Paw

    Wonderful video! Finally kuckek is the dominant bull. If I remember right, he is the son of Robin? Good to see the grass very lush!

    Reply
  3. Teresa

    What a peaceful scene. Lovely 🙂

    Reply
  4. Cindy Dodds

    I always enjoy your videos and commentary. 🙂

    Reply
    • karen paolillo

      Hi Cindy, Teresa, James and Nancy so chuffed you all love the video. James Kuchek is actually the son of Happy who I fed in the 92 drought so he is very special. Love to you all and thanks so much for making comments means a lot to me. Karen and the hippos

      Reply
  5. Patrick

    Karen, you should bring little George to the ophthalmologist . He needs glasses because he does not see where to stroll !! Nice footage.

    Reply
    • karen paolillo

      Patrick it would have to be a French hippo, BonBon that thinks George is in her way! 🙂 Love Karen and the hippos

      Reply
  6. Esther

    A lovely video with excellent comments from Karen. I have observed hippo. Dhabi our over many hours in two zoos in North America with an excellent graduate student – so it wonderful to see true wild behaviours. Thank you Karen

    Reply
    • karen paolillo

      Hi Esther yes I am lucky having lived with these hippos now for over 25 years they have taught me a lot but I still keep learning something new on a regular basis.

      Reply
  7. Enya Ratcliffe

    Absolutely lush video, it’s amazing how you recognise each individual hippo (they all look the same to me)

    Reply
    • karen paolillo

      Enya it is a bit like living with a load of similar coloured horses or cattle you get to recognise each individual at first with something simple like a scar or such like but then with time they become known to you like any other animal. I can tell most of them from a distance but the babies sometimes fool me when all together.

      Reply
  8. Rebecca

    What a wonderful video!! Seems like we hadn’t seen Bonbon in a while…he’s gotten so big!

    Reply
    • karen paolillo

      Hi Rebecca BonBon was kept away from the family last year from about August until her mother Tacha had a new calf. It was strange as all the hippos did not want contact with her which is not normal. It is only usually the mother who keeps an older calf away when she is quite pregnant. This time every other hippo ignored BonBon but now she is allowed back with them all. George is her brother and so she acts somewhat dominant at times as after all he is so much younger. BonBon turned four years of age in April so by next year she could fall pregnant though usually they are get pregnant in their sixth year.

      Reply
      • Barb

        My young daughter, who adopted BonBon, had been very sad to hear that she had been kept away from the others, so now tonight to see her “back with the gang” made her very happy.

  9. Carolyn Reedy

    So enjoyed the footage. Its lovely to see the hippos going about their lives. Thank you Karen.

    Reply
    • karen paolillo

      Hi Carolyn thought it was time for a hippo video-purely hippos and I am a bit biased to Kuchek as he was named after the pony I lived with as a child and so has taken over my heart like Bob had. He is not Bob but close. Love Karen and all the Hippos.

      Reply
  10. Cary Martin

    Wonderful footage. Such a delight to see Kuchek like this.

    Reply
    • karen paolillo

      Cary you had the privilege of meeting Kuchek your adopted hippo here in Zimbabwe and as you can see he is quite a boy! He has fathered now two calves and is such a gentle hippo bull. He protects his family but he has the character of both of his parents, Happy the bull in the 92 drought and Mystery who is a very gentle female. He is also very beautiful and such a handsome male. Love Karen and all the hippos He turned 14 in March so still a young bull and could grow some more.

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Teresa Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.