Hippo and Elephant are the two biggest land mammals to exist on earth. They are both huge, grey brown-bodied herbivorous beings, which are primarily found in Africa. Yet, belonging to two separate species Hippo and Elephant also show many differences. Both Hippo and Elephant are usually in the company of their species. Hippos have a dominant male figure, while elephants have a dominant female who leads the group. Hippo is a semi-aquatic mammal. An Elephant also enjoys water but chooses to stay on dry land. There are many grounds on which a Hippo and an Elephant vary.
We will examine some key differences below:
Appearance-
Size
While both Hippo and Elephant are large-sized, their sizes still differ by a lot. Elephants are the largest mammals on this planet, followed by Hippos. An elephant has a massive body mass, weighing 6000 to 12000 pounds. So, it easily outweighs a Hippo with an average weight of between 3000 and 4000 pounds. Also, while an elephant has an average shoulder height of 7-12 feet, a hippo’s shoulder height is 4-5.5 feet.
Shape
A hippo has a large, barrel-shaped figure, a big head but short legs and tail. An elephant has thick skin, wide and tampering ears, ivory incisor teeth or tusk as well as a long trunk that can suck up water and pick leaves and nuts.
Habitat-
An African Hippo will usually be seen spending a considerable amount of time in rivers and lakes to combat the blistering heat of the place. Their facial features- nose, ears, and eyes lie at the top of their heads to enable breathing underwater. An elephant’s habitat can be varied- savannah, scrub areas, and even desert. But an elephant entering a Hippo’s water body can intimidate the latter, as Hippos are aggressive against trespassers into their marked territories.
Diet
Hippo loves grass. While searching for food late in the night, it can easily devour up to 77 pounds of its favourite green pasture! An elephant, despite being herbivorous like its African neighbour, has a much more diversified diet, including grass, bark, root, and even fruits and nuts. It can eat up 3000 pounds of food in a single day!
Life span
A Hippo can live for around 40 years. Some Hippos have a lifespan stretching up to 50 years. An elephant, whether African or Asian, can live up to 60 to 70 years. That is almost the same lifespan as that of humans in Sub-Saharan Africa or even South Asia!
Speed
Speed is of great importance in the African wild. While a hippo can run up to 20 to 30 miles per hour, an elephant has a top speed of 9 to 25 miles per hour. Hippos are faster than elephants due to their smaller size, but they are slower in water. Elephants might seem slow due to their mammoth figure, but they are capable of outrunning humans! Their speed helps them get rid of predators as well as attack them.
Teeth and biting power
A hippo has very large teeth, 36 in number. Its teeth are all sharp and used for offense on predators. The incisors of a hippo grow as long as 1.2 feet in length, while canines grow up to 1.5 feet in length. A Hippo has a biting power of 1800 PSI. This is much more than a man’s 200 PSI. Thus, a hippo can crush many objects and organisms under its sturdy teeth that outcompete even felines like tigers and lions.
An elephant also has ivory tusk, used to fight predators, but it rarely uses it offensively. The tusk is used for breaking tree barks, and shrubs for eating.
Sense
A Hippo has a high vision power, but not a strong sense of smell. An elephant can smell and hear well, but has poor vision.
So, the above mentioned are the key differences between Hippo and elephant.
But, there might still be some questions in your mind. Like, how will the two animals fare in a duel?
Can a Hippo defeat an Elephant?
A hippo is an aggressive mammal. It has long and strong teeth with excessive biting power. But it has a smaller size than an elephant’s. This might make it seem unbelievable when we say that a hippo can indeed defeat an elephant, but in rare cases where the elephant is relatively small or weak. Although an elephant has a tough skin, a hippo can pierce its sharp teeth into the mammal’s body with enough tries. An elephant has an upper hand in a fight not only due to its size but also due to its strong trunk, which can fling a hippo into the air many times. The elephant can also stomp its feet on the hippo and suffocate it in a duel. Its trunk works to defeat or at least scare away a hippo effortlessly.
