That morning, Cardolite asked Hao Jun if he wanted to see the baby hippopotamus that was born yesterday.

Hao Jun became interested and got into Cardolite's car.

An hour and a half later, they arrived at their destination.

Hao Jun looked at it, this is a large family of more than 100 hippos, of which the adult hippopotamus with a length of more than three meters and a weight of nearly two tons accounts for more than half, which is really extraordinary.

Cardolite pointed and drew Hao Jun's attention to the little hippopotamus lying on his mother's back, which was born just yesterday.

It is said that it is a baby hippopotamus, but in terms of its age, the hippopotamus is forty or fifty kilograms when it is born, which is not like the cubs of giant pandas that are small enough to fit in the palm of the palm.

The skin of the hippopotamus will dry out and crack when it is left out of the water for a long time, so it stays lazily in the water for most of the day, only exposing the ears, eyes and nostrils to the surface of the water, can breathe normally, and can also detect danger in time, and can also rely on the help of water to regulate body temperature, prevent skin from drying out, support the huge body, and even foraging, mating, giving birth, and breastfeeding are also used to being carried out in the water.

Interestingly, hippos can command their muscles to close their ears and nostrils during dives, and each dive can last up to 10 minutes.

Cardolite and the two staff members had to go to other places to inspect, and Hao Jun felt that he had been watching for an hour, so it was better to follow the car to go around other places, and it would save Cardolite from coming back to pick him up.

After about five kilometers, they saw a funny scene of three lions attacking a hippopotamus, but because of the hippos' large size, they looked like kittens hanging on a person. Facing the broad back of the hippopotamus, they open their mouths wide like kittens gnawing on a basketball, and they can't bite at all.

The hippos, however, walked forward as if they were not there, and continued to walk in all directions as long as the lions did not make the gesture of attacking the baby hippos in front of them. As soon as one of the three lions wanted to attack the hippopotamus in front of it, it immediately charged forward.

Although it is difficult for the hippopotamus to travel more than 20 kilometers per hour, the short distance, the tank-like impact force, coupled with the huge fangs and the largest mouth on land with a 90-degree angle, make the shock absolutely overwhelming!

After repeating it twice, the lion who wanted to attack the baby hippopotamus had to return and continue to gnaw on the hippopotamus's tough, five-centimeter-thick back.

However, the outcome of the matter is obvious, and the three lions can only slide off the hippopotamus's back and watch the hippopotamus leave leisurely with reluctance.

Cardolite laughed, "Those three lions are too young and inexperienced, and they seem to be very hungry, otherwise they wouldn't be stupid enough to eat the hippopotamus." As far as their teeth are concerned, there is no precedent for gnawing through the thick skin on the back and sides of the hippopotamus. Besides, the disparity in size is too great, unless a large group of lions work together to arch the hippopotamus over and lower its mouth towards its relatively soft belly. But that kind of precedent is just an example, and it is almost impossible to expect lions to work together like people in tug-of-war, and there must be terrain that is favorable to them. ”

Hao Jun looked back and forth, left and right, "This is to bring the child out to practice, right?"

Although Cardolite didn't understand the meaning of "experience", he saw Hao Jun's gesture of looking around, and he thought that it couldn't be other questions, so he replied: "It should be, otherwise it would be impossible to go so far away from the riverbank, which is obviously going to the tributary over there." The mother and son are from the same group just now, and it seems that they just left this morning. ”

Crocodiles are often found around hippos.

Of course, crocodiles usually don't go head-to-head with hippos, because crocodiles are used to dragging their prey into the water and drowning, but hippos can water!

Another means of the crocodile is to spin its body in the water after biting the prey to unscrew the meat of the prey. But the skin of the hippopotamus is also difficult for them to bite through, but it is the hippopotamus's big teeth that can pose a threat to them.

So, crocodiles wander around hippos for one purpose: to hunt baby hippos!

This is one of the reasons why the mother hippopotamus leaves the herd with the baby hippopotamus with the larger target.

Another reason is that the temperament of the male hippopotamus is relatively irritable, especially when he wants to have something with the female hippopotamus, the female hippopotamus with a baby will naturally refuse, and the male hippopotamus is often angry with the baby hippopotamus, and it is not uncommon to kill the baby hippopotamus.

Hippopotamus mothers and children or mothers and daughters who have been away from the group for a short period of time may only stay outside for two months, and the baby hippos will return to the team when they have the basic ability to escape the sudden killing of male hippos. If the female hippopotamus feels safe in a temporary habitat outside, or if there is a persistent male hippopotamus in the herd, she will stay outside for a few more months, the longest being a year and a half.

But generally speaking, after leaving the group, there is still a sense of territory, and if you go too far, you are afraid that it will not be easy to track after the migration of the group, and you will not be able to seek shelter from the group when you encounter greater dangers. Therefore, the distance to the community is usually not more than 30 kilometers.

However, it is really rare to let a behemoth like a hippopotamus encounter greater danger, otherwise the mother hippopotamus would not dare to take her cubs out alone.

There were no other hippopotamus groups within thirty kilometers of the area, so Cardolite, who was familiar with the situation, was certain that it came from the same group five kilometers away.

But Cardolite suddenly remembered one more thing, the tributary where the hippopotamus mother and son had gone seemed to have a crocodile stationed a month ago, and there would be no conflict, right? The little hippopotamus is a delicacy that can make crocodiles salivate! The mother hippopotamus cannot be on high alert 24 hours a day, and if she is not careful, she may lose her baby.

When Hao Jun heard him talk about the baby, he felt a little funny, it was a baby of nearly 100 pounds!

Cardolite pondered for a moment, and there really wasn't any other water source around that would allow the mother hippo to go with confidence, and even if Cardolite thought it was safer and wanted to guide them there, the mother hippo might not be able to be persuaded. If you happen to encounter occasional danger after you go, you can take the revenge on Cardolite. Hippos can live for forty or fifty years, and it is not good to see enemies often in the future.

Moreover, according to the relevant regulations and conventions of the reserve, the natural behavior of wild animals should not be interfered too much, unless it will cause ecological imbalance, or it is a key protected animal, or some animals mixed with private emotions that the staff particularly likes.

Needless to say, in the era of rampant poaching, each white rhinoceros had two or three soldiers with loaded guns around it, and anyone who tried to get close to the white rhinoceros and was judged to be misconspiracy, whether it was a man or a beast, was directly killed!

When it comes to animals that are mixed with personal feelings, for Cardolite, the elephants are the first to be recommended, and Cardolite has named almost all the elephants in the area he patrols!

On one occasion, when he went out alone, in order to prevent the poaching ivory that he had discovered by chance from escaping, he had to track the three poachers for a day and a night when the communication equipment was damaged and no backup could be contacted! Fortunately, he met tourists and borrowed a mobile phone, so he was able to contact Balatu, and finally intercepted the three poachers.

If the victim was not an elephant, he probably wouldn't have worked so hard, because once the poachers found out that he was tracking, he was afraid that his life would be lost.

The hippopotamus is not a key protected animal, nor is it an animal that the people present are mixed with personal feelings, and it is unlikely to cause ecological imbalance because of this, so Cardolite decided to respect the laws of nature and not interfere with the whereabouts of the hippopotamus mother and child.

However, the cute appearance of the baby hippos prompted them to go around the tributary when they returned to camp at noon, or else they would feel uneasy.