One Twitter user was “delighted” by the clip, given the mammal’s deadly reputation
(Picture: Twitter )Have you ever seen a hippo having its teeth cleaned? Neither have we until now – and it’s the most fascinating thing we’ve seen today.
In a viral clip making the rounds on Twitter, a zookeeper was tasked with the unconventional job of scrubbing clean the mammal’s gnashers, which can grow to a whopping 1.5 feet in length.
Both unflustered, the man walks over the body of water and rolls his up sleeves up, ready to get stuck in. The 1,500kg hippo willingly opens wide and graciously rests its head on the rock.
The brave zookeeper starts by massaging the hippo’s gums with his bare hands before giving the hippo a full scale and polish with a supersized toothbrush.
To viewers’ surprise, the clip ran way too smoothly – and we’re not complaining. One was “expecting someone to get swallowed”, while another “didn’t watch till the end because [they] couldn’t handle the carnage.”
Hippos can grow up to 40 teeth, and it’s generally fish and birds who clean their teeth for them. Judging by the animal’s reaction, he seemed more than pleased to have some human assistance.
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The weirdly satisfying video received an influx of comments. One ironically humoured, “FYI, this is the most dangerous animal in Africa,” while another was keen to find out more about the job description and where they could apply.
One woman wished her 3-year-old reacted in a similar manner at teeth-brushing time.
“Isn’t it amazing given how dangerous they say hippos are - the level of trust and partnership the animal and the keeper have developed here,” another user added in awe. “Truly wondrous the way the world works sometimes.”
While one user was “delighted” by the viral clip. “Surprised by the vid since hippos in the wild have a deadly reputation,” they said. “Delighted to see that the hippo did not eat the dental tech/keeper.”
