In this video, an impala is being attacked by a crocodile. A nearby hippo rushes over and saves the impala from certain death. The hippo gently carries to wounded impala to a safe place on shore, and appears to show great concern for the dying impala's welfare for several minutes....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E51DyWl_q0c
How do you interpret the hippo's actions?
What could be an ulterior motive for the hippo's behavior?
2007-11-19 12:21:09 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
FYI: Hippos are *vegetarians*
2007-11-19 12:36:30 · update #1
It is a bit hard to really know what the hippo was doing so the whole thing is up to interpretation. These are wild animals. If you hope to find compassion amongst animals you need to look to domestic dogs and cats that risk life to save others.
I once heard of dolphins pushing a man to shore after his life raft leaked and he was close to drowning. A group of dolphins must have sensed he could barely swim. They even chased off a shark that came swimming by!
2007-11-19 12:37:21 · answer #1 · answered by FAT CAT 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Exactly what the hippo's motives were seems unclear, but it gives the impression of compassion. As humans, though, I think we have a tendency to anthropomorphize the behavior of animals. Something that I think does more clearly suggest animal morality is tests that were done with different primates. Individuals of various species were offered a food treat via a mechanism that caused a companion to experience pain such as an electric shock. When they witnessed and realized that their taking of the treats caused their companions to experience this pain, they would not take the treats. Some of them went several days, nearly to point of starvation because they did not want to cause pain to the other. Some species showed this tendency more than some others, some of which did not show it at all. This most definitely appears to be a morally based action.
2007-11-19 21:17:42 · answer #2 · answered by Boris Bumpley 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
try watching the video clip with the sound off...it looks more like the hippo was just trying to show the croc 'who's boss'...the 'great concern' stems mainly from the narration...i'm guessing the hippo was having a taste and decided against an impala sandwich...in the end, the croc got his meal...i don't think the video is proof of anything other than our own ability to project our own feelings onto another species...check out a beloved house-cat 'toying' with a mouse or a bird sometime and ask yourself, "playing with dinner, having some fun, or torture?" anthropomorphizing works well in disney cartoons, but in nature? not so much
2007-11-19 20:47:12 · answer #3 · answered by spike missing debra m 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't think that's really proof of morality and compassion. The hippo is an aggressive animal to begin with, and it looked to me like it took the impala from the croc like one child taking a toy from another, and it seemed to me the hippo was the one who bit down on the impala and finally killed it.
2007-11-19 20:32:29 · answer #4 · answered by arewethereyet 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Hippo "wants" (horrible anthropomorphization) to help the impala because that is what it will tend to do, hippos are social animals that rely and care for each other, and it is in the hippo's genes best interest to help anything it recognizes as kin. This hippo just happened to recognize more as being like it than is standard. Kind of how humans expand this relation towards people that used to be the way we feel about families, to other people of our countries and religions. (We are yet, as a whole, to do this for all human beings, sadly...)
2007-11-19 20:28:54 · answer #5 · answered by yelxeH 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Enough was enough the hippo was signalling to the croc to go green!!!!
Just kiddin... animals are hard wired as we are to preserve life even on occassion that of other species.... dogs saving their owners form snake bites etc.
2007-11-20 08:38:38 · answer #6 · answered by unix 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure if that hippo was totally altruistic. It appeared it bite a chunk off before it coddled the impala.
Hippos kill more humans than any other animal in Africa. Only mosquitos kill more.
2007-11-19 20:29:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yes! Jim Corbett was once watching a female Tiger stalking a baby goat. The little goat saw her and bleated at her, at which point the Tigress stopped stalking the goat and just walked up to him. She was a few yards away and the little baby goat walked up to her, raised his head and smelled her. She looked at him, turned around and walked back the way she came.
She simply was NOT going to do something that didn't feel right to her.
2007-11-19 20:31:37 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
No, its just the happiness lurks inside the hippos.
The hippo hated the crocodile that much.
Denying the crocodile of its meal.
Hmmnnn... peace. :o)
2007-11-19 20:30:35 · answer #9 · answered by wacky_racer 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Wolves have been known to raise baby humans.
Pigs have raised kittens.
Some animals have lactated in order to provide sustenance for another animal of a differing species.
2007-11-19 20:25:25 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋