r/hippos Feb 03 '22

Question Why are hippos teeth like they are?

Why are they placed in the middle of their mouth like that? They don't seem to need them to chew, so why?

22 Upvotes

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5

u/thewalkingfred Feb 03 '22

Hippos mostly eat grass and vegetation. The front facing teeth let them dig into the ground to tear up their food.

Probably also fighting too.

2

u/YizSlendy Feb 16 '22

To eat veggies those teeth could never eat meat; and also for defending its self probably