Do Hippos Have Predators? What hunts them?

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Last Updated on August 17, 2026 by Jorge Bastos

The hippopotamus is the third-largest land mammal on Earth and one of the most aggressive animals in Africa. With a bite force of 1,800 PSI, canine teeth reaching 50 cm, and a territorial aggression that kills an estimated 500 people per year, the hippo is not an animal that most species choose to confront. So do hippos have predators?

The short answer: adults have almost none. Calves are a very different story.

Why Adult Hippos Are Almost Untouchable

An adult hippopotamus weighing 2,000 kg with 5 cm of hide and a jaw that can snap a boat hull in half is simply not viable prey for any predator in Africa. The maths don’t work: the risk of injury is too high, the chance of success too low, and easier meals are always available.

This doesn’t mean adult hippos are completely safe — it means that the few animals capable of threatening them only do so under very specific circumstances, usually involving desperation or opportunity rather than deliberate hunting.

The Animals That Do Pose a Threat

Crocodiles

The Nile crocodile and the hippo share rivers, sandbanks, and water holes across sub-Saharan Africa — but they exist in a state of mutual respect rather than active predation. Crocodiles avoid adult hippos entirely. A hippo’s jaw closing on a crocodile is a documented cause of death; the reverse is essentially impossible with a healthy adult.

Where crocodiles do pose a genuine threat is to hippo calves, particularly newborns in the first weeks of life. A crocodile that spots a calf separated from its mother has a realistic opportunity. Mothers respond aggressively, but not every attack is thwarted in time.

We’ve covered this matchup in detail in our hippo vs crocodile guide.

Lions

Lions occasionally target hippos — but rarely, and almost always under extreme pressure. Field data from South Africa’s Sabi Sands reserve found just one hippo kill by lions in over 4,000 carnivore kills recorded across 12 years. When it does happen, it typically involves a large pride, an isolated hippo far from water, or an animal that is already sick or injured.

A healthy adult hippo near water is not prey for lions. A single lion attacking an adult hippo is not a hunting strategy — it’s a likely fatality for the lion.

The full breakdown is in our hippo vs lion article.

Hyenas and Wild Dogs

Spotted hyenas and African wild dogs will occasionally target hippo calves when the opportunity arises, particularly if a calf strays from its mother during nighttime grazing. Neither species poses any threat to adults.

The Real Danger: Hippo Calves

While adult hippos are effectively apex animals in their environment, calves face serious predation pressure in their first year of life. Estimates suggest that up to 50% of hippo calves do not survive to adulthood — one of the highest calf mortality rates of any large African mammal.

The first weeks are the most dangerous. Newborns are small enough to be taken by crocodiles, vulnerable to lion attack when on land, and dependent on a mother whose attention cannot be everywhere at once.

Everything about how a calf survives — the close bond with the mother, the “nursery” groups where calves rest together while adults keep watch, the instinct to stay in water — is shaped by this predation pressure. Our baby hippo guide covers calf development and survival in detail.

The Threat From Within: Infanticide

One of the most significant — and least discussed — threats to hippo calves comes not from predators but from within the pod itself.

Dominant bulls sometimes kill calves, particularly young males, as a strategy to eliminate future competition for territory and breeding rights. This infanticide is well documented and represents one of the leading causes of calf death in some populations. Mothers fight fiercely to protect their young, but dominant bulls are large, aggressive, and determined.

This internal threat is one reason why female hippos with newborn calves are so explosively dangerous to approach — they have learned, through evolution, that danger can come from anywhere.

The Biggest Predator of All: Humans

No natural predator comes close to matching the impact that humans have had on hippo populations.

Hippos have been hunted for meat, for their ivory teeth, and as a perceived threat to human communities and agriculture for thousands of years. The common hippopotamus is currently classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, with a global population of approximately 115,000 to 130,000 — a figure that continues to decline due to poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict.

The bushmeat trade in Central Africa has driven local hippo populations to catastrophic lows. In some areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, hippo numbers fell by 90% during periods of civil conflict. Our conservation guide covers the threats and what is being done to address them.

Humans are also responsible for a significant number of hippo deaths through retaliatory killing — when hippos leave water at night to graze and damage crops, farmers defend their livelihoods by killing the animals responsible. This conflict is one of the most difficult challenges in hippo conservation across West and Central Africa.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Do hippos have natural predators? Adult hippos have almost no natural predators. Their size, aggression, and physical defences make them essentially immune to predation. Crocodiles and lions occasionally prey on calves, and lions very rarely attack isolated or weakened adults. Humans are, by far, the most significant threat to the species overall.
• What animals can kill a hippo? The Elephant is probably the only animal that can take the hippo and kill it, but it won’t do it for eating. In practical terms, only a very large coordinated lion pride can kill a healthy adult hippo — and even then it’s rare and dangerous for the lions. Crocodiles can kill hippo calves but cannot take adult hippos. Humans, through hunting and habitat destruction, kill far more hippos than all natural predators combined.
• Are hippos afraid of crocodiles? No. Adult hippos are not afraid of crocodiles — they dominate them at every encounter. Hippos have been documented killing crocodiles that enter their territory, and crocodiles typically avoid direct confrontation with hippos. The only realistic crocodile threat is to unguarded calves.
• What is the biggest threat to hippos today? Human activity — specifically poaching for bushmeat and ivory teeth, habitat loss from agricultural expansion, and retaliatory killing — is the biggest threat to hippo populations. The species is classified as Vulnerable and declining. The pygmy hippopotamus, the smaller of the two living species, is classified as Endangered with fewer than 3,000 individuals remaining.

Explore more on Hippoworlds:

• hippo vs crocodile
• hippo vs lion
• baby hippo facts
• hippo teeth and bite force
• hippo conservation
• deaths by hippos

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