Swimming lessons from hippos

Mother hippopotami teach their offspring how to swim in a no non-sense way.

The adult hippopotamus spends about 16 hours a day in the water and needs to know how to keep its tank of a body afloat and mobile. But hippo babies aren’t born with the ability, so swimming lessons are a staple part of hippo upbringing.

The mother encourages her calf into deeper quarters after paddling around in the shallower ends of some river or mangrove swamp. Its short chubby legs paddle like mad, but this won’t keep her afloat; she sinks like a sack of potatoes. Mother will encourage with nudges upwards, using her voluminous snout to do so.

The calve eventually learns because this teaching method has been successful in the evolution game. The calve learns the coordination and finesse to displace water and cause propulsion in the watery space. Soon enough, they join their kin bobbing around in 3-dimensions like they’re on a watery moon, paddling to the surface for a refreshing gulp of air as it suits their need.

Mother knows instinctively how to teach, taking advantage of a learning window our species share.

Perhaps one of the ways humans have become insensitive to the suffering of other creatures is because they have forgotten how to handle discomfort. Much of modern life is full of shallow ends. Where pawing around can become a safe fate of lifelong habit. Modern entertainment brings adrenalised experiences but not real discomfort or pain.

Hippos are the deadliest land mammal on the planet, killing about 500 people a year in Africa. Despite their ungainly looking 3000lb + bodies, they can run up to 30mph!