Hyena wakes up dozing hippopotamus – and gets a nasty surprise

A hyena sneaks up from behind its supposedly lifeless prey, a dozing hippopotamus. The misjudgment is almost fatal for the scavenger.

Ngorongoro – In the heart of Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater, a hyena narrowly escaped death in a dramatic encounter with a seemingly lifeless hippopotamus. Safari guide Carlos Ismail, who was conducting a tour, took spectacular photos of the scavenger sneaking up on the back of a hippopotamus that was thought to be dead – and suddenly having to run for his life. The incident occurred in East Africa, where another safari guide drove a car into a river full of crocodiles.

That was close: Hyena smells fat prey – and narrowly escapes a hippo attack

The obviously somewhat simple hyena narrowly escapes the danger of being killed by the pissed-off, not-at-all-dead hippopotamus, which had previously been dozing motionless in the swamp, half hidden under algae.

The clip recorded by Ismail shows how the hyena initially greedily stalks the animal, which is lying sluggishly in the river. But suddenly the hippopotamus rises up, swings its powerful body around and chases the scavenger out of the water. With its huge jaws, it only misses the animal by a hair's breadth. Ismail comments: “This hyena was very lucky. She was on her own and I think she thought the hippopotamus was dead and would be an easy meal,” reports the DailyStar.

The safari guide added: “It managed to escape just in time before it was caught in the hippo’s huge jaws. It barely made it to land.”