With more people living along the edges of lakes and rivers, human and hippo conflict has increased, while research on the iconic species remains sparse.
With an estimated one billion more people in Africa expected to be competing for aquatic resources by 2050, research to plan ahead, manage conflict and preserve the environment has become increasingly important.
Dr Camille Fritsch, 32, has just graduated with a PhD in Ecological Sciences from the University of KwaZulu-Natal for his study on the aspects of behavioural ecology of the common hippopotamus.
Fritsch, who grew up in California, said this week that achieving his doctorate was the biggest achievement in his life so far.
“I grew up in San Francisco and spent a lot of time watching National Geographic and I was very drawn to Africa. My dad also listened a lot to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, so I think I was subconsciously attracted to South Africa,” he said, adding that he spent six weeks in the country while doing his undergraduate studies in environmental sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
He returned to South Africa in 2015 and since then, while doing research, has been based in Pietermaritzburg, Ndumo (northern KZN) and Kruger.
“Hippos tend to get overlooked and are understudied, but are particularly interesting and unique because they spend half their lives in water and half their lives on land. They are active for between four to eight hours a night and during the day are submerged in water,” said Fritsch, whose studies have included tracking and gathering data on hippo movement and habitat preferences.
He said that hippos on a global scale were listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red Data List, with many populations across Africa at either unknown or declining status. National populations in South Africa have remained stable in recent years, though their range has been reduced and they exist almost exclusively in protected areas.
“The goal of my research was to quantify aspects of hippo behaviour and ecology in response to seasonal and annual environmental changes, to improve the future management of hippo populations in the context of fenced protected areas with finite resources and to manage sources of conflict between hippos and humans in the developing world,” he said.
He added that available statistics (again understudied) indicated that hippos kill and injure more people each year than any other mammal on the planet, but that is likely a symptom of people encroaching on areas used by hippos, particularly in impoverished countries, and that hippos were not entirely to blame.
“Hippos are one of the most dangerous and difficult animals to capture, which is why there are so few studies on them,” said Fritsch.
He said another interesting aspect regarding the species was that they were “regarded as pure grazers” and while a male’s tusk can be as long as a human arm, hippos don’t eat meat, but rather use their tusks to defend territory.
“Hippos eat on land and defecate in water and are widely regarded as ecological engineers for their unique transportation of nutrients from terrestrial to aquatic environments. Dense populations can even change an aquatic environment and cause eutrophication and fish population die-offs,” he said, explaining the ability to change environments they live in made them ecological engineers.
“Climate change is predicted to cause more intense flooding or drought events and so while annual rainfall may be the same, these extreme events may impact hippo populations across South Africa and the rest of the continent,” he said, adding that hippos can consume between 30-60kg of food a day. Hippos are incredibly strong and capable of walking against the flow of water, or will move to avoid being flushed down a river during floods.
Fritsch, who is currently in St Lucia, plans to continue his post doctoral research on hippos, while his supervisor UKZN Professor Colleen Downs said: “Understanding the environmental requirements and drivers of hippos’ space use is important for their conservation, especially with climate change and loss of habitat.”
The Independent on Saturday