A hyena in Tasmania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area made a judgement call that went terribly wrong. The hyena thought a hippo was dead because it had been lying in a shallow area of water for quite a while, so it cautiously approached the motionless animal to take a test bite. Turns out, the hippo was just taking a long, deep nap, and it didn’t appreciate the hyena’s bravado.
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Carlos Ismail, a safari guide in Ngorongoro, posted the video of what happened next at the end of 2023, and though it didn’t gain a lot of traction on his page, it’s still making the rounds on social media. (Lesson: Never assume the hippo is dead.)
“Hyenas are very opportunistic, they will always take any chance on food if available!!” wrote Ismail in his original Instagram post. “In this case this one saw this hippo and thought the hippos [sic] was dead!! To his suprise [it] nearly cost his life!!”
He says the hippo has a habit of lying in this spot completely motionless, and Ismail has also seen a lioness try to take a bite out the same not-so-dead hippo.
See the hyena harass a live hippo here: