Massive Elephant vs 3 Baby Hippos

Elephants can be grumpy at the best of times and these hippos soon learned that this Ellie was not interested in visitors on his turf…

This footage was taken by Evan Malsbury in the Umfolozi River in South Africa.

According to the boat driver and the tour director, seeing elephants along the river as part of this cruise was extremely unusual, so everyone on board was jockeying for a better view. This was then that we saw an elephant close to the water’s edge. The elephant was alone for a while before the trio of hippos appeared and this was when the drama was taken up a notch. The hungry the hippos were no match for the elephant but thankfully no one but the tree was hurt.

Apparently, this was rare even for the tour director/cruise driver, it was the most unusual thing seen during our 14 day trip to South Africa. The tour director proposed that the hippos were younger and that they were learning about how to interact with elephants, and that the elephants were just trying to cross the river. It all seemed like a territorial standoff to me though.”

To license the footage:

Get some of our exclusive specials at the Kruger National Park (Free nights):

Snapchat: LatestSightings
Twitter & Instagram: @LatestKruger

[Alex.P]

Hippos - “ there’s nothing to be scared of here”
Elephant - moves a tree branch.
Hippos - “ 🦛🦛🦛

[tylerwong]

What a kind elephant. Instead of charging at the hippos aggressively, he gently pushes a tree over to tell them to move along.

[Faclss]

Elephant: "I thought I told you kids of get off my lawn!"

[berrybloom]

The elephant is like, "Since when were hippos that tiny?"

[rachelfourie]

I like how the elephant didn’t mercilessly kill those innocent babies, but decided to just knock over a tree to give them a little scare so they can get off his territory. Smart, compassionate animal.

[dankus]

I like how the elephant understands that the hippos are small and stubborn and doesn’t attack them. Just pushes over a tree what a nice elephant

[kshitijpawar]

I love how the hippos avoid eye contact and thinks it's all ok

[stevensanchez]

Damn he broke that tree like nothing 🤯

[robertroth]

The restraint displayed by this enormous bull elephant suggests both intelligence and compassion. Makes his point beyond doubt without needlessly harming anyone. A true king.

[jeffkeith]

Baby hippos: "Are you my mother?"

[killoreo]

Elephant: What spooked those 3? I was just offerring an olive branch....

[monyroath]

1:25 why I found those lil run are so cute 😂

[creatureconnor]

1:19 Did anyone else notice the second elephant?

[Drawcaces]

The elephant was trolling 😂😂 like let me display power!!

[dazedandconfused]

Clearly the elephant didn’t want to hurt the baby hippos. He just scared them back into the water.

[idontevenknowanymore]

The way those 3 little hippos ran into the water is cute 🦛🦛🦛

[noreenreynolds]

What a magnificent, majestic, ferocious, gentle being!

[frankr]

Hippos: "Oh look! it's an elephant."
Also Hippos: "OMG A TREE IS FALLING! RUUUNN!"

[rajjakkam]

Hippos: "Nothing to be scared of there are 3 of us and only one of him."

Elephant knocks a tree down.

Hippos: Run!

[MrDjWatson]

That elephant made those hippos look like bald guinea pigs.