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Okavanga — Happy Hippos 1
#africa #hippo #hippopotamus
Published: 2014-11-29 13:24:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 470; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 3
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Young female hippo out for a late afternoon stroll in iSimangaliso Wetlands Park isimangaliso.com/ .Reincarnation...as a Hippo?We saw our poor wee gecko slide down the slinky, sinuous gullet of the African bush snake in the previous set of photographs from my recent vacation in South Africa , and that might be that for the gecko. However, many millions of people in many a religion believe in reincarnation, and our unfortunate may yet be reborn, say, as a hippopotamus! Now there could be worse fates than that. As our guide on a marvellous river trip at iSimangaliso Wetlands Park Warick said, "Hippos have just about the best life of any wild animal in Africa". Just to get you in the mood let's look at a hippo on dry land:
This is a young female hippo, according to our ranger Julian, out for a late afternoon stroll in the grasslands adjacent to one of the large, lazy lagoons of the wetlands. We had watched her for some 15 minutes as she ambled back to the water, happily grazing on the rich grass that is the main food of hippos. This is unusual behaviour - to be out
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Comments: 10
What a great capture! He appears to be posing just for you. 
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Good point, Linda. The female hippo has just spotted us, and is eyeing us up as to whether we are threat.
Cheers
David
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How....do you know it's a female?....Is it the big mouth?
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Linda - The ranger, Julian, said she was a female. I think I might have guessed as all very large male mammals - elephants, hippos, rhinos - have very large male appendages (politely speaking) and this hippo did not have such equipment!
The point about the mouth size is a good one. It has nothing to do with the sex of the animal but with its feeding behaviour. Hippos are grazing animals and a wide mouth allows it to eat a broad swathe of short grass in a short time. The same is seen in the so-called "white" rhino which has a wide mouth compared to the "black" rhino which does not. The white rhino is a grazer, the black a browser of bushes. Photographs of such are due for posting at the weekend.
Cheers
David
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Ah yes indeed, David! I did not think to check there though; although, looking at the photo again, I suppose the angle would be correct to have noticed if it were male.
So very interesting! I did not know this at all. Odd how the same animal, with just a color difference basically (from the sound of it) has such starkly different eating habits. I am curious for sure to see those photos!!
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I have yet to start the Journal for the images, although they are in Stash. I'm a bit worried about a couple of aspects of the rhino shots - I need to take out any reference to exactly where the rhinos are so as not to compromise their existence.
But I'll sort it.
David
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Yes take your time with that for sure. I'd not want anything bad to come of it. (although I'm sure they are 'probably' well protected...but to be safe... ) I do look forward to it, but I can be patient.
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Posting shortly!!!
The suspense is killing I know.
David
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Hi Michelle - thank you. Actually once I had got this to my liking I realised that there was no object in the image to allow a sense of scale. So, although a reasonable spontaneous capture, I should have thought more about my position. As to jealousy, I think the roles are reversed when I look at your work!!
Cheers
David
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