While cruising around the Western Corridor of the Serengeti a couple of weeks ago I came accross a hippo carcass. Since most of the meat and skin around the jaw had been nibbled away by scavengers, the jaw and tusk structure of a hippo is readily apparent. A couple of pictures below:

Nice set of molars.

Did it die because the waterhole had dried up or ....? (perhaps no apparent reason?)

Water wasn't the problem, we were about 200 yards from the Grumeti river. It was headed back towards the river where there are a bunch of hippo. I couldn't tell cause of death.

Dear Wink,

Hippos bulls frequently fight to death at night over the girls. I have found many killed that way. They often have big cuts on their flanks. I was once walking through very long grass and came to a place where the grass had been flattened in about a 30 meter circle. There was blood and chunks of flesh everywhere and it was brand new.

I went very cautiously to a nearby waterhole and there was a seriously angry bull hippo who had just lost a fight. The winner was likely off with a pod of cows. He saw me and immediately charged out of the pond and not wanting to shoot him I slipped into the grass and he stopped and returned to the waterhole. I checked on him every day because if he died I hoped to use him for a lion bait. He died two days later.

The only time I have ever had hippos leave the water when wounded is when they have been wounded by another bull. They first go into the muddy water where they get infected and fish bite their wounds. This usually drives them onto land and they lie up in heavy cover. They are very dangerous in this condition. Many years ago I was on the Luangwa River in Zambia and one such bull bit and American hunter in half.


VBR,


Ted Gorsline