Hippos "fly" underwater: ZOO video reveals surprising ability

Recent studies show that hippos can "fly," even though they can't swim. This term refers to a situation in which all of a hippo's limbs are in the air while running.

Hippos can't swim, but they can almost fly. Instead of swimming, these animals walk along the riverbed and push off it. Their mass and density are too great for them to swim. The Cincinnati Zoo presented a video showing a hippo in the water.

However, hippos have another exciting ability. According to IFL Science, research shows that at full running speed, these animals can lift all their limbs off the ground simultaneously and remain in that state for about 15 percent of the time.

"We show with basic video footage that hippos essentially only trot even at near-maximal speeds, and at those speeds, they do get airborne with all four feet. Which, to our knowledge, is new to science -- and cool," reads a tweet from John R. Hutchinson.

Hutchinson emphasizes that an ordinary video published on YouTube played an essential role in the discovery. "Anyone can take a camera or internet videos and learn something about how animals move from that footage."

Studying hippos was not easy. They tend to stay close to water and are dangerous animals, so it was challenging to have good conditions for observation. The conclusions are interesting, though: Hippos can lift off the ground for about 0.3 seconds. They won't go far, but few expect such large animals to move this way.