Scientists at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London have discovered that hippos, which weigh around 1.5 metric tons, are able to hover in the air, but only for a very short time.
In their research paper published in the journal Peer J , the scientists found that hippos can stay in the air for up to 0.3 seconds when running at top speed.
“Our most striking finding is that hippos typically trot (either walking or running), and use the aerial phase when running fast,” the paper said. This type of locomotion is not characteristic of other large land animals such as elephants, rhinoceroses or horses.
John Hutchinson and Emily Pringle, evolutionary biomechanics specialists at the Royal Veterinary School, University of London, came to this conclusion after analysing videos showing 169 movement cycles from a total of 32 hippos, filmed in "extreme" situations such as trying to escape from lions or rhinos, or displaying aggression towards each other, or humans and vehicles.
The animals in the study spent about 15 percent of each sprint without touching the ground, the paper said.
“We were amazed to see how the hippos could fly through the air while moving so fast, it was really impressive!” Hutchinson said.
In a separate interview with CNN, Hutchinson called the discovery "really cool" because hippos are "really hard to study" because they spend most of their time in the water, are most active at night, and are "very aggressive and dangerous."
Kieran Holliday, science and conservation officer at Flamingo Land in Yorkshire, who provided videos of the hippos to the RVC researchers, stressed that the study “could have positive implications for the wider zoo community in terms of husbandry and enclosure design”.
Hippos are the second heaviest land creatures in the world after elephants, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Despite their weight, they are capable of running at speeds of up to 30 km/h (19 mph) for short distances.
It is estimated that between 115,000 and 300,000 hippos currently live in the wild, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. These animals are herbivores, but they are very aggressive and territorial.
The hippopotamus has gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous animals in the world to humans. These creatures are known to attack when provoked.
According to the BBC Wildlife Network, hippos are responsible for the deaths of about 500 people each year.