This video is called Inside Nature’s Giants- Hippo.
From New Scientist:
Hippo dung is health food for river animals
18:45 15 April 2015 by Jessica Hamzelou
Don’t just flush it away. Just as one person’s trash is another’s treasure, hippo dung seems to be a valuable source of nutrition for the animals’ aquatic neighbours.
By injecting millions of tons of faeces into African waters every year, hippos may be providing a vital link between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Douglas McCauley of the University of California in Santa Barbara and his colleagues compared fish and dragonfly larvae in two river pools in Kenya‘s Laikipia district, one inhabited by hippos and the other hippo-free.
They found components of hippo dung in the tissues of dragonfly larvae that lived alongside the animals year round. During the dry season, fish absorbed faecal nutrients as well, while levels in dragonfly larvae increased.
The team thinks that during the wet season, high rainfall dilutes the hippos’ waste and faster-flowing rivers also wash away dung before animals can access it.
As climate change and development in east Africa continue to affect local rivers, it will be important to consider how the benefits of hippo excrement can be preserved.
Journal reference: Ecosphere, doi.org/3nv
The excrements of hippos play an important role in the ecosystem of African lakes and rivers. Because there are fewer and fewer hippos, this ecosystem is in danger. In the long term, this could lead to food shortages at Lake Victoria: here.
Pingback: Wildlife reserves in Malawi under new management | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Douglas the orphaned hippo survives lion attack | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Hippopotamus, herbivorous or carnivorous? | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Baby hippo defends mother from lion | Dear Kitty. Some blog
LikeLike
Pingback: South African hippos attack crocodile | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Hippos, cattle and Kenyan rivers | Dear Kitty. Some blog