Hippos have an odd habit of licking crocodiles — tempting as it may be to want to find out what makes them so yummy, it's not recommended unless you weigh a few tons and have the ability to bite them in half if they protest.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Mary's Monday Metazoan: Croc-licking
Category: Organisms • Weirdness
Posted on: May 31, 2010 6:56 AM, by PZ Myers
Find more posts in: 
Life Science
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TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/140719
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Comments
Posted by: Aquaria
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May 31, 2010 7:05 AM
My husband will love seeing this when he comes home today. He loves hippos, and a guaranteed gift that will please him is anything that's hippo. I like to tweak him by mentioning that more people are killed by hippos than crocodiles. But I'm also the one who buys him hippo figurines and stuffed animals.
Posted by: MadScientist
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May 31, 2010 7:11 AM
Maybe the croc is a "salty" ...
I wouldn't recommend licking live crocodiles unless you're a hippo. I doubt that even Steve Irwin would have done such a thing - though you can always claim that it's not so much licking the croc that you fear but ingesting too many protozoans.
Posted by: Perspexo
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May 31, 2010 7:21 AM
Licking the crocodile... now try and tell me that's not a euphemism for something!
Posted by: Brian English
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May 31, 2010 7:21 AM
@2 Maybe the croc is a "salty" ...
Interesting point. Though a salty ought to be known as an estuarine, due to their ability to bite you in a billabong many kilometers from the sea. My understanding of it (limited as it is) is that the salty can attain 5 or so meters given enough time, and can take down a buffaloe to stupid to know that you don't drink from billabongs. Now, a hippo probably is a lot bigger, but the crocs in Africa are Nile crocodiles I believe. Not sure how big they get. According to Dikipedia, it's the next largest after our sweet, petite salty. 3.5 to 5 meters long but only 255kg. Salties can weight over 1000 - 1200 kgs. Male hippos weigh up to 1800 kgs. I'd back the salty if it had surprise on its side. An 80 kilo man can easily drop a 120 kilo man if he's not expecting it, so, by stupid analogy I'd say a 1000 kilo croc could chow down a 1500 kilo stoned hippo. However, a hungry hippo is a different story.
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/HZykFY1gh.1I1IrxVTU4Ce_iluH_nItn.Sk-#78975
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May 31, 2010 7:41 AM
@MadScientist:
Cracked.com's article "The Six Cutest Animals That Can Still Destroy You" says that Irwin took hippos very seriously.
Posted by: john.s.wilkins
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May 31, 2010 8:54 AM
I bet that hippo's name is Homer Simpson.
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/ClFXB7oRoOgnLtknIniUaHhKyDJunkweVHPc#99d15
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May 31, 2010 9:01 AM
If saltiness isn't the answer, there could be algae growing on them. It isn't uncommon to see that here, occurring on snapping turtles.
Posted by: John Scanlon FCD
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May 31, 2010 9:10 AM
Hippos just like being really annoying. They're the African megafauna version of
creationist trollsliberturds/b-tards or something.Posted by: Shplane, some shit in french
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May 31, 2010 9:13 AM
#8
I'd go with EDiots, honestly.
Posted by: Shplane, some shit in french
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May 31, 2010 9:15 AM
Wait, correction: Ebaumsworld.
Posted by: Antiochus Epiphanes
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May 31, 2010 9:19 AM
Licking crocodiles aligns the Chakras. This hippo is clearly forever-minded. And has a lot of love and energy to share.
Posted by: bPer
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May 31, 2010 9:31 AM
For some reason, this post reminded me of a Canadian TV PSA called House Hippos.
βPer
Posted by: Tigger_the_Wing
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May 31, 2010 10:13 AM
Yummy crocodile meat!
Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkU_dvadrnb0g2EdWOcrNwlap8bEe5TqQo
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May 31, 2010 10:21 AM
It's the hippo equivalent of chest-thumping. The hippo is saying he's not afraid of the croc, and reminds him he could stomp him and bite him in half if he wanted to.
Posted by: Falafel
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May 31, 2010 11:04 AM
maybe crocs, like some toads, have hallucinogens on their skin. i'd hate to be near a tripping hippo.
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/O.jullMj0I2VvJaxMMVeNKSfOPf73voLSxJAe9PdlOWwi8Y-#258ec
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May 31, 2010 11:11 AM
Do we know if crocs feed on Hippos?
They have shared the same water for a very long time could they have both evolved some kind on relationship that does not involve eating each other. Hippos eat grass and other plants which when they are through with digesting it leave the residue in the water where they spend most of their time thus feeding the other animals who live in the water which are then fed on by the crocs . Could this activity by the hippos be some kind of analog of grooming that appease the crocs.
uncle frogy
Posted by: daveau
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May 31, 2010 12:14 PM
Srsly, this is about 1/2 step from hippo-croc pron.
Posted by: Aratina Cage
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May 31, 2010 12:26 PM
Leather chewtoys? Sweet! Hippos gotta keep their teeth sniny, too.
Posted by: Acronym Jim
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May 31, 2010 12:39 PM
Symbiotic relationship? The croc gets itchy pests and debris removed while the hippo gets a good tongue brushing.
Posted by: 朴競花/박경화 (Gyeong Hwa)
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May 31, 2010 12:49 PM
We could like crocs too if we sedated them. Or you have a shoe fetish.
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/O.jullMj0I2VvJaxMMVeNKSfOPf73voLSxJAe9PdlOWwi8Y-#258ec
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May 31, 2010 1:04 PM
well from the short video they do seem very tolerant of each other. Not being any expert on Hippos they do seem to have a very aggressive/defensive reputation and I have also seen videos of crocs killing animals almost as big big as a baby hippo but they do not seem to bother each other. I'm just wondering what kind of relationship they do have and how they manage it.
Posted by: Rey Fox, Bird Caller Guy
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May 31, 2010 1:22 PM
So no one knows why? I was hoping someone could give a little summary of what the video said, since it appears to be a National Geographic kids video, so it has their "derp de der" narrator (who does the adult videos too, I suppose).
Posted by: Biddy
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May 31, 2010 2:34 PM
bPer #12: I knew the House Hippo wasn’t real, but I desperately wanted it to be when I first saw those commercials. Conversely, god was something I could always do without. but the House Hippo? Now those would enrich life!
Posted by: jcmartz.myopenid.com
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May 31, 2010 3:51 PM
The odds are not even.
Posted by: thedarwinreport
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May 31, 2010 6:37 PM
Duh! To the hippo, the croc is a natural toothbrush. Or tongue brush, to be more specific. Don't any of you watch the Flintstones?
Posted by: bPer
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May 31, 2010 6:39 PM
Biddy @%23:
Indeed, but my kitties might have another opinion once they saw how the House Hippo defends its turf.Seriously, though, I wonder if the message about critical thinking and media literacy got through to the intended audience. Cute and cuddly can be awfully distracting.
βPer
Posted by: Kirk
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May 31, 2010 7:02 PM
I think both sides are getting some ... to anthropomorphize ... enjoyment out of this.
C'mon scientists, there has to be a reason for this. The baby hippo is not (probably not) just hippo trash talking.
My job as an engineer is not to make the hypothesis, but to apply the table of data once it arrives.
Please, get started. Salty has been proposed, are there others?
Posted by: Kirk
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May 31, 2010 7:23 PM
In an attempt to help at organizing the hypotheses, because I missed some in my haste:
1. salty
2. algae
3. hippos really annoying (I reject this out of hand, although I like it)
4. forever minded (I reject this out of hand, although I like it)
5. chest thumping (but it's a child; do children chest thump?)
6. hallucinogens
7. debris removal and toungue brushing
I think #7 deserves a research grant.
So I take my previous comment back. Lots of theories right out of the chute.
and regarding
Hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Posted by: Acronym Jim
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May 31, 2010 9:32 PM
Thank you Kirk. I'll await my check.
Posted by: Acronym Jim
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May 31, 2010 9:35 PM
Just to clarify, the check for the research grant - not for hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Posted by: alhath
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June 1, 2010 3:23 AM
I'm not not licking crocodiles.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo
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June 1, 2010 7:14 AM
There is no reason to expect a Nile croc's skin to be salty even a little bit.
I'm going with algae.
Irwin wouldn't have licked a croc. He'd have held his infant daughter out at arm's length to do it instead.
Posted by: paulmurray
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June 3, 2010 2:47 AM
Maybe it just feels good?
Or: hippos defaecate in the water, maybe they are just trying to get rid of the taste?