Skip to main content

Hippo

 

Is this giant hippopotamus mama the model for the Hungry Hungry Hippo game where four plastic hippos chomp on marbles? Or the friendly little hippo who stomps around looking for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the “The Hungry Hippo.” Or maybe that cute stuffed animal you bought at the zoo for the little one in your life. 


I DON’T THINK SO! This female is more like the hippo that chased my son and me down the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Luckily our guide had the good sense to take us in a boat with more horsepower than hippo power. 


Hippos are fierce territorialists, fast runners, especially in the water where they glide off of rocks, and they won’t be chomping on marbles if they get ahold of a trespasser traipsing around in their waters. They are huge, females weigh in at about 3000lbs, and males can weigh up to 9000lbs. These beasts have tusks and teeth and can crush a human in half. In fact, statistically, hippos kill more humans than any other animal in Sub-Saharan Africa. And unlike the cute little hippos in kid lit, they don’t smile. They are grumpy, grumbly grunters, and definitely not gentle. And the word cute does not come to mind when I think of hippos - well, the babies are cute.


So why do the authors and illustrators of picture books for little children depict wild, untamed, and dangerous animals as sweet, friendly playthings that look like they want a hug and a cuddle? What madness is this? What’s the point? Why lead kids to believe wild animals are charming when, in reality, the real ones would cut their little lives short if the opportunity arose.  


Anthropomorphism in kid lit and kid games is something to think about, for sure. Maybe if animals are infused with “nice” human characteristics, kids will be nicer. Maybe sparing them from the truth is good for them until they can handle the truth. But, heck, having been in the bush a lot, I can’t handle the truth, especially when I see things I can’t erase from my memory. The cruel but necessary circle of life. 


Well, except for hippos, they won’t eat you; they’ll just kill you because you happen to get in their way!


#hippos #lastdaysinsouthafrica #kidlit #anthropomorphism #writing #personalessays

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Esther Mahlangu - Ndebele Artist

  This beautiful woman is 92-years-old and lives in a small Ndebele village in Mpumalanga. Esther Mahlangu is an Outsider Artist, self-taught from the age of nine, who has achieved great success with her bold, colorful art reflecting traditional Ndebele culture. It’s not clear, but it seems she never went to school and can only write her name on her artwork. However, she has two honorary doctorates for her contributions to the art world. Her success was serendipitous. In 1986, researchers from France were roaming around looking for traditional art forms. One road led them to the artist’s village, where they became enthralled by Mahlangu’s uniquely painted houses. Right time, right road!  They invited her to create murals for an international contemporary art exhibition at the Magiciens de la Terre in France. Her obscurity was soon over and she quickly became a phenomenon in the Pan-African art world. Her resume is awe-inspiring. Look her up, here’s one link - https://www.sahi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Leopard in a Tree

  I broke a rule in The Kruger to get a shot of this leopard resting in the middle of a tree fully populated with leaves. And, I kind of didn’t care because, well, it was a leopard, one of the most elusive, stealth, and stunning animals I have been lucky enough to see only a few times during my seven years of trolling around southern Africa. Many cars were parked at the site, inhabitants gawking upwards directly outside the Lower Sabie entrance, so I knew something special was in the tree. Except, I couldn’t see it, and I wanted to it, so I stared and scanned in between the leaves and the branches until I recognized the spotted tail hanging to one side. Gold! One problem! Many roads in The Kruger are no-trespass roads - poacher patrol roads, ranger roads, admin roads, washed-out roads, all roads where civilian vehicles are not welcome. The best angle for the photo was down one of those roads so, I lost control of my manners, calculated where and how I needed to get there, and drove...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jacaranda

  View the beauty of this glorious jacaranda mimosifolia tree in full bloom.  They are everywhere in Johannesburg and Pretoria in spring.  South Africans look forward to the explosion of soft violet leaves every October, signaling the end of chilly winters and the rebirth that comes with spring. Traveling down an avenue canopied with these trees makes me feel like I’m in a fantasy novel, so enchanted by their majesty and color that I have pulled over more than once to snap photos. Local lore says that a person will have good luck if a jacaranda bloom falls on their head.  Originating in South America, the jacaranda was brought to South Africa somewhere between 1830 and the 1880s, at the height of the gold rush.  Planted along many of the streets of Johannesburg and Pretoria, the trees were charged with making the dusty landscape of the booming cities lovely and livable. They look like their entire existence to bring pleasure, kind of like the mockingbird. But, t...
Post a Comment
Read more