Tense moment an angry hippo stands up to giant elephant for trespassing on its territory… but soon backs down when his friends arrive.
It was a battle of the giants when a hippo squared up to an elephant as it approached for a drink.
The elephant had invaded the hippopotamus’s territory on the Chobe River, in Botswana, and the angry hippo seemed keen to make its feelings clear.
The heavyweight face-off was captured by Nicole Cambre, a 43-year-old lawyer and keen photographer from Brussels.
Her pictures show the elephant proudly standing on an island in the river, while the submerged hippo approaches through the water.
When the hippo gets onto the island it does its best to intimidate the unwelcome guest by widening its jaws and bearing teeth.
The elephant lowers its head but the battle is over before it has begun as more elephants arrive and the hippo backs off.
Ms Cambre said: ‘There is an island on the middle of the Chobe River to which this elephant had crossed.
The hippo was not happy about it and was apparently defending its territory. When more elephants crossed the river to the island the hippo backed off and went back into the river.’
