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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