Baby hippo attacked by leopard in The Luangwa Valley in Zambia with Guide Peter Geraerdts @trackandtrailrivercamp. Sorry guys, I should have informed a bit more on this encounter between hippo and leopard. I noticed a lot of speculation on this rather rare sighting.
Hippo's usually sleep during the day in the water and they will leave the water after sunset. That's when the will tart grazing or look for another food source It seems that the hippo cow had an awful and active night protecting her new born and that's why she came back late in the morning to the Luangwa River. If you look closely you will see that the ears of the baby hippo have been eaten off the head. This is most likely not the work of the leopard but rather the work of hyena's which you don't see in the footage but they were around as well. In the dry season hippo's need to walk for long distances to find the right amount of food and the baby was just unlucky to be born in a difficult time of the year. The hippo cow will always take care of her young, but it doesn't mean that the baby hippo was prepared for walking a long time and meet hungry predators. If predators see a weakened baby hippo they will try to separate it from the mother. A hyena/leopard is no match for a hippo, but hyenas are faster on land and they work together in a clan. They will just attack from all sides, wearing the mother hippo out. Where I found the hippo and the leopard it was just 50 meters away from the Luangwa River, so the baby made a safe escape to water. If the baby survived remains a big question mark. The Luangwa has the highest concentration of crocodiles and the mother hippo needs to get out to feed herself. If the youngster was too much injured and not able to follow the mother, the young could have ended up as a meal for the crocs. The Luangwa also has the highest concentration of hippos in Africa so from an ecological point of view it's not a big loss. Thanks for reading!
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