Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
"Action, like a sacrament, is the visible form of an invisible spirit" (bell hooks) || journalist || campaigner || @amnesty || Easily distracte

May 29, 2021, 7 tweets

You may know that Hippos kill more humans than any other African animal

You may know they can run at speeds of 25mph

But have you ever seen how fast they can swim?

Footage (via @LembaniTraveler) shows a hippo chasing a boat on Lake Victoria, Zambia

Some of you have spotted the deliberate mistake above👆

It is Lake Kariba, not Lake Victoria!

I got confused because they call the waterfall there “Victoria Falls” after a dead British Queen

It’s original name is Mosi-oa-Tunya, (“smoke that thunders”).

Thanks also to those pointing out that hippos are, in fact, only the 3rd deadliest animal in Africa

The biggest killer is the mosquito

The 2nd biggest is the human

Also hippos don’t “swim” so much as push off the lake bed so you’re safer in deeper water

Not a great time for your engine to conk out

Hippos spend most of the day in the water, but can't actually swim or float

They can hold their breath for up to seven minutes & are able to sleep underwater, automatically surfacing to breathe without waking.

“Crikey!”

According to @KevinJ42: “Steve Irwin, a man who was known for jumping on the backs of crocodiles & picking up venomous snakes by the tail, said that the time he was the most scared was when he was riding on a boat through hippo-infested waters.”

How many people do different animals kill per year?

1. Mosquitoes: 750,000

2. Humans: 450,000 (homicides)

3. Snakes: 100,000

4. Dogs: 35,000

5. Freshwater snails: 20,000

6. Assassin bugs: 12,000

7. Tsetse flies: 10,000

8. 11. Hippos: 3,000

9/. Crocodiles: 1,000

Wow! Dogs are kill 7,000 times more people a year than sharks!

Spielberg shout#ld make a film about that & I need to amend my chart👇(a adding homicide column)

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