More than 750 species, many of which are endangered or extinct in the wild, can be found at the 50+ acre San Antonio Zoo. The zoo is open all year round and attracts over a million people annually. One of the favorite animals at the zoo is the hippo! The San Antonio Zoo’s Tik Tok account showcases all sorts of videos of these giant creatures. Hippos give birth underwater, weighing between 55 and 100 pounds and growing to a length of around 4 feet. Hippos can weigh up to 3,300 pounds as adults in males and 2,800 pounds in females. Males can get to be 4,400 pounds in size, and exceptionally massive ones can weigh 5,800 pounds.
Impressive Bite Force
While these animals are huge, they’re still plenty cute! A viral video showcases one of the zoo’s hippos munching on a refreshing afternoon snack – an entire watermelon! Have you ever heard the expression “hungry as a hippo”? That has more truth than you might think! Hippos devote up to six hours feeding on grass and any dropped fruits they may come upon when they come to land at night. Almost every year, videos of hippopotamuses chowing down on watermelons in one or two bites become viral. A single hippopotamus can break more than 60 watermelons with its powerful jaw. Hippos have a bite force of approximately 1,800 psi. They can theoretically bite a crocodile in half if necessary because of their powerful bite. Hippos are the most vicious land animals when it comes to their bite. The heaviest male hippo ever captured, which weighed 9,900 pounds, was kept in captivity in Germany. This enormous hippo was 16 feet long. You can picture how powerful this hippo’s bite could have been because the bigger the hippo, the greater its bite force is! The Nile and Saltwater crocodiles can both strike with forces up to 5,000 psi, which is greater than the hippopotamus’ maximum biting force of 3,700 psi. However, the largest crocodile specimens may be able to bite with forces as high as 5,000 psi. The hippo is the dominant animal even when it has a weaker bite force due to the size of its body and mouth. For the sake of these cute videos, we hope these hippos stick to snacking on watermelon!
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