Hippos at the Cincinnati Zoo are trick-or-treating a little early this year — by munching on entire pumpkins, a viral TikTok video shows.
The zoo staff gave the hippos pumpkins on Oct. 26, which was National Pumpkin Day, according to the video. Onlookers gasped and chuckled as staff rolled hefty pumpkins of all sizes into the hippo’s jaws before they swallowed them after just one or two bites.
@cincinnatizoo Happy National Pumpkin Day! #halloween ♬ original sound - Cincinnati Zoo
Baby hippo Fritz also swims up to zoo staff for some treats, garnering “awws” from the crowd in a live stream video posted on Facebook.
Hippos can be enjoyed at a distance, like in the zoo’s safe TikTok video, but the power of their bite is nothing short of terrifying.
While hippos mostly eat plants, wild African hippos are considered “one of the most aggressive animals on Earth,” according to National Geographic.
On top of having a bite force that is nearly three times stronger than that of a lion, hippos are also known to have a salivary digestive enzyme that can “chemically damage human flesh,” according to a 2020 Oxford Medical Case Report filed with the National Library of Medicine.
All this points to the fact that it’s really easy for hippos to crunch through pumpkins — and they might be the perfect animal for both adorable zoo sights and spooky facts this Halloween season.
