Hippopotamus are big fat creatures that look very calm but one always wonder whether these big creatures could get enraged so much that they might kill someone.
So, are hippopotamus dangerous? Yes, hippopotamuses are very dangerous and can easily kill a human when they become furious. It is generally because of their unpredictable behavior. They become irritated very easily and can harm anyone near them.
Hippopotamuses are generally mild or even timid, but they are also unpredictable. There are several known instances of their having made unprovoked attacks upon people, usually people in boats.
In regions where the animals have not learned to fear man, there is always a certain danger from solitary individuals or from a herd aroused suddenly from their sleep.
Sir Samuel Baker, an early African explorer, writes that an irate hippopotamus once charged a steamer that he was on, knocking several parts from one of the paddle wheels, and breaking a number of holes in the bottom of the vessel with its tusks.
On another occasion, some natives under his direction were driving cattle across a stream when a herd of hippopotamuses deliberately attacked the cows. They seized several of them and carried them under the water before they were finally driven off.