Given the choice between flying to the other side of a lake or hitching a ride on the back of a hippopotamus, one lazy heron in South Africa’s Kruger National Park clearly chose right.
Sure, hippos can be ferocious predators, but that doesn’t seem to faze this cruising heron. Taking a page out of pro surfer Kelly Slater’s book, it regularly uses the hippo’s back to “surf” the lake like a boss.
However, some devoted observers don’t think the joyride is mutually enjoyed. According to a commenter in the UK’s Independent:
“This is [the heron’s] daily and even bi-daily surf routine. Once I watched via webcam and Hippo was attempting to go deeper and deeper to get Heron off, but Heron stuck out the heavy surf and tides … so Hippo resorted to some hectic moves which then had Heron lose his balance and fly off. Hippo was overjoyed and even did a flip in the water with his feet sticking up in the air before heading for shore and wandering off to graze … much earlier than usual too. HILARIOUS! :)”
And, as is true for most things, chill heron surfing goes much better set to Drake’s “6 God” in the background.
H/T The Independent
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