Can a hippopotamus fly? Study says the animal can reach an “aerial phase”; understand

You common hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) are among the heaviest animals in the world. On average, they have 1.5 tons but some can reach almost 4 tons. Despite its high weight, a new study reveals that this species can reach the so-called “aerial phase” .

Roughly speaking, this means that hippos get to keep their four legs suspended in the air at times when they reach high speeds — as occurs among horses, for example. The study was led by Professor John R Hutchinson, from the Royal Veterinary College, in the United Kingdom, and published in the scientific journal PeerJ.

According to researchers, the common hippopotamus can reach a speed of approximately 8 m/s (equivalent to 30 km/h) in a movement classified as “fast trot” .

“None of the hippos studied used gait patterns other than a trot (or near-trot), but at the fastest speeds, hippos did engage in brief aerial phases, which is apparently a new finding,” the paper says.

For comparison, elephants average 7 m/s (25 km/h). “Hippos exhibit relatively greater athletic ability than elephants in several respects,” the researchers said.

Common hippos are among the five heaviest species in the world among land mammals, behind only three species of elephants and the white rhinoceros, the study points out.

The research was carried out by capturing videos of two hippos that live in the Flamingo Land Resort a UK zoo and resort, and from watching videos available on the internet. Check it out here.

A total of 162 video samples from 32 different hippos were compiled. “Our data help form a baseline for assessing whether other hippos use normal locomotion, which is relevant for clinical veterinary assessments of locomotion problems and for reconstructing the evolutionary biomechanics of hippo lineages,” the research concludes.