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Top 10 Animals After Dark: The Hippo
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#9: When Hippos Hunger

By Jessika Toothman

Hippos are massive animals that spend their days lolling in the rivers of Africa until the scorching sun sets and they emerge to feed. As night falls, they clamber up out of the water, carving deep ruts in the riverbank. Despite the fact that they might range quite far in search of food, get between a hippo and its home — or even worse, between a cow and its young — and you're asking for trouble. Fiercely protective mothers, a whole school of hippos will provide backup if a baby is threatened. (Watch this clip of Brandon and the crew in this exact situation.)

Hippo calves might be large by our standards — they can weigh in at nearly 100 pounds at birth — but in the dangerous nocturnal world of sub-Saharan Africa they’re particularly vulnerable to predators.

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