Hippos might fly: beasts can get four feet off ground, study shows

It takes a scientific mind to see the grunting hulk of a hippopotamus and wonder whether, given sufficient motivation, such an improbable beast might ever become airborne.

- Ian Sample

And so to researchers at the Royal Veterinary College in North Mymms, Hertfordshire, whose painstaking work reveals that when the hefty herbivores reach top speed they do indeed take off.

Video showed hippos got all four feet off the ground at once up to 15% of the time when thundering along at full pelt, often to chase off rivals.

"I've struggled to get any work done on hippos before because they're so hard to access," said John Hutchinson, a professor of evolutionary biomechanics who led the research.

"They're incredibly dangerous, they tend to be most active at night, and they spend a lot of their time in the water."