The edibility of manatees...yeah...

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

http://4xforum.co.za/tguide/trail.html
Don't FUCK with hippos.
Hippo

The hippopotamus accounts for more injuries and death than any other wild animal in Africa. They do not mock charge. Because of their poor eyesight a charge is normally wild and without direction. Moving sideways or climbing trees is the only escape route as outrunning a hippo is impossible for even the fastest athlete.

To avoid confrontation with hippo:

* Do not camp on or too close to game paths leading to water.
* Do not shine bright lights at hippos, even if they are in the water. They have been known to charge at the headlights of a vehicle - so do not drive around at night in hippo country. This is one of the reasons why driving at night is forbidden in most game reserves in Southern Africa.
* Do not get between a grazing hippo and the water from which it has come - you will be cutting it off from its place of sanctuary and it may charge.
* If a hippo should rise up under and tip your boat, the best course of action - probably the only course of action - is to jump into the reeds and hide. And pray!
* If you are in a boat, keep at an extra distance if the hippo are with young. In this situation they can become very aggressive and will attack the moment they feel threatened. Hippo move with astonishing speed under water and a charging hippo may only be seen when it is too late.

Hippos are NOT suited to farming!

[Shroom Man 777]

I know hippoes are the baddest mofos in Africa, they can take on water buffalo, elephants, crocodiles, lions, leprechauns, people, elves, even chimeras! I was just wondering how tasty they would be.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

I hear they taste very good, but are unsuitable to farming.
The meat is hard to get, and that makes it even tastier! (You have to shoot them on land, and drop them before they run back to the water. If they get back in, good luck pulling it out. The other hippos will smell the blood and get nervous. So will the crocks! Bad time to swim in the water to attach a line to your hippo to drag him out! Better have a good winch for this as well.)
Hippo is suppoed to taste much better than giraffe, but not as good as water buffalo.
Now warhogs may be ugly, but mmm pork! Plus some of the african bullfrogs are HUGE. (Froglegs, mmm)
I don't care much for venison, so kudu, dicdic, and impalla meat would be not no good. Ellephant is supposed to be good too.
I'll pass on the monkey meat, but what does rhino tasle like?

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

That's WARTHOGS!
Pictures anthropomorphised pigs with machine guns in trenches wearing German WW2 helmets.

[Petrosjko]

I've heard that the issue with taking down hippos isn't the concern that they'll run away, but that you had better get the first shot in clean, because after that you'll have a very pissed-off hippo bearing down on your tender person.

[Sea Skimmer]

[quote="unbeataBULL"]
Damn, the only way to keep yourself safe from a hippo is to carry a military rifle and be a good 100 yards away.

You want a hunting rifle specifically designed for big game. Military rifles in general fire much less powerful cartridges then heavy caliber hunting rifles, and they have lighter bullets and higher velocity, which is not want you want.

Of course, if by military rifle you meant something chambered for .50cal BMG, its a different story. But even then the ultimate weapon against an elephant or hippo is basically considered to be a double rifle firing .577 Nitro Express, which gives about the same total energy as one .50cal BMG cartridge, but with massively heavier bullets and lower velocity.

[wolveraptor]

Wait, why are military rifles less powerful than hunting rifles if the former are used for combat, and the latter are used for a relatively trivial activity?

[Winston Blake]

Wait, why are military rifles less powerful than hunting rifles if the former are used for combat, and the latter are used for a relatively trivial activity?

Not just hunting rifles in general, big game rifles. Typically military rifles only need to kill humans, which comparatively aren't that tough.

Smaller cartridges means you can carry more ammo. Smaller (lighter) bullets with higher velocity also helps maximise kinetic energy while minimising recoil, whereas you'd want stopping power against a charging monster.

(Note: I'm sure as hell no expert, this is just my take on it)

[Peregrin Toker]

What about anti-material rifles? I suppose you could kill a common hippopotamus with one shot from one of those...

[Shroom Man 777]

Hence Skimmer mentioned "unless you're talking about .50 caliber...something something". And still, anti-material rifles are so fucking fast that they'd just tear big holes. Hunting rifles aren't as fast, so they'll sink in and do more damage.

An anti-material rifle would still work though.