As Mervyn Van Wyk and his wife Tokkie approached the dam They noted that blue wildebeest, zebras and impalas were happily grazing on the opposite side of the dam. Mr. Van turned the car into position so that his wife had a clear view as she wanted to take a few pictures.
They happened to notice that one unlucky wildebeest was grabbed by a crocodile on his right rear hoof. This began a game of tug of war that lasted for around 8 minutes. The wildebeest would try dragging itself out of the water whilst the croc would pull it back in. You could see the exhaustion that the poor wildebeest was experiencing. Tokkie kept the cam rolling while Mr. Van observed the area in the close vicinity. Mr. Van then noted what his thought were more crocodiles approaching but then he saw, it was actually 2 hippos.
The hippos approached the scene cautiously and then suddenly sprang onto the croc forcing him to release his grip on the wildebeest. This amazingly allowed the wildebeest a chance to escape even though he had a broken hoof.
They could not believe the rarity of this situation. Mr. Van had never seen a hippo coming to the aid of another animal, it was simply astonishing. Remember in Kruger (Place Where Video was taken), never rush away and always be patient because these amazing sightings are everywhere to be seen”.
While this might seem that the hippos were rescuing the wildebeest, it is most probably hippos showing territorial behaviour. Hippos don't like sharing their turf and might have seen the wildebeest as an intruder, thus attacking the wildebeest to get him out the water.
Video was first uploaded to Youtube :
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