Thursday 5 January 2012

A really funny joke

In an article about the hippopotamus and pygmy hippopotamus, Nick Thomas describes the fights of males of the common hippopotamus thus:
When two male hippos face off, they not only hurl dung at each other, but they may viciously attack one another. In fights between rival males, hippos can inflict serious injuries, often ripping off an opponent's ear with their long canine teeth. A similar technique was adapted to human combative rituals by Mike Tyson some years ago.
This is one of the funniest jokes I have heard on the web of late! Although my mother believes boxing should be banned because the purpose of the sport she says is to hit and injure one’s opponent, it is really impossible to compare Mike Tyson’s ear-biting antic against Evander Holyfield in 1997 to what male hippopotamuses do not only to their rivals for mates, but also to humans. Hippos kill more people than any animal except other humans, though they are easier to avoid than the African buffalo, which is so ruthless a killer it could be called the al-Qa‘ida of the animal kingdom since it kills anything threatening it. Mike Tyson’s bite was a reflection of his violent nature, but Tyson apparently only did it because of his feeling of superiority being threatened, unlike an African buffalo or hippopotamus.

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