this very large hippo has been trained to come up to the gate and open his mouth so his teeth can be inspected. This saves having to sedate him which can be dangerous. He is having trouble with his teeth growing too long and you can see he has a sore patch on the side of his lip. His is now quite used to having his teeth filed down by his keeper.
Oh my goodness - one brave hippo and an even braver keeper. Just shows how intelligent these creatures are, to realise the filing of his teeth are what is needed.
Fascinating shot and info, Chris! That sore patch looks painful...is that from a tooth gouging his lip? I didn't realize a hippo's teeth required filing. I wonder how hippos in the wild take care of overgrown teeth.
wow! thanks everyone for your comments and favs. I'm glad you enjoyed these pics and were as amazed as I was to see this hippo open his mouth on command. The keeper told us it had taken some time for him to learn this and food was used as a reward. In the wild if a hippo has trouble with its teeth it may even die from infections. This boy was about 10 years old. In captivity they can live to about 60 years because of good care and no preditors, much less in the wild..
@peggysirk yes Peggy, the sore on his mouth is from where the tooth has been catching on it. In some cases a tooth can cut right through and the animal could die from infection.
@huvesaker Hope Little Hoo liked these shots. Thanks for taking the time to look back at my project. I have been so tied up with travelling and having visitors over the last month I have had to neglect my commenting but as you say family must come first.
October 16th, 2016
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wow! thanks everyone for your comments and favs. I'm glad you enjoyed these pics and were as amazed as I was to see this hippo open his mouth on command. The keeper told us it had taken some time for him to learn this and food was used as a reward. In the wild if a hippo has trouble with its teeth it may even die from infections. This boy was about 10 years old. In captivity they can live to about 60 years because of good care and no preditors, much less in the wild..