ELI5: How do hippos move so fast in the water?

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ELI5: How do hippos move so fast in the water?

Comments

  1. Ogow Avatar

    They’re very strong and they run along the bottom, not swim.

  2. R3ACTx Avatar

    They are heavy, more muscle than fat by far. They run along the bottom of shallow bodies of water, and they are quite fast on land, too.

  3. RomanticBeyondBelief Avatar

    They propel themselves by sinking and then bouncing off the bottom.

  4. Waffletimewarp Avatar

    They’re very dense, so they sink to the bottom. Once there they just run, and those legs need to be strong in the first place to hold up their bodies in the first place. at which point, inertia takes over and it’s harder for them to stop rather than continuing to move.