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Comment by dsizzle | Hacker News Reader

I'm surprised an article on hippo poop altering the local environment doesn't mention the unique (and disgusting!) way that hippos poop: by spraying it everywhere propeller-style with their tails! The usual explanation for that is that it's to mark their territory, but I wonder if this offers a more cooperative explanation? (I would be skeptical of that explanation TBC.)

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It may be disgusting, but it makes for a great effect when played in reverse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5SSnQBtaq4 :-)

what's with the blurring in that video?

To prevent it from being flagged as for mature audiences and potentially getting a strike on the channel. Showing fecal matter in high, up-close detail would mark it as a "V" rating (violence/disturbing)[0]:

> Examples include real or dramatized medical footage, or depictions of disgusting or scary content in a horror or fantasy context.

[0] https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/146399

But this is not a horror or fantasy context, it’s an educational context. Am I missing something?

Youtube doesn't care about that. At least, content creators don't generally take that chance. There is very little recourse if Youtube decides your content violates their rules.

That was from the "mild" section, too. Looking at the more extreme bullet point for the same rating, there's

> It may also include pervasive imagery or situations that are disturbing or repulsive to the average viewer.

Which, given that the entire video is about literal buttholes and feces, probably fits to some degree.

A bit like for fair use in educational contexts, it can approved after a few (?) back and forth with the YouTube moderators, on a per video basis, if the creator is lucky enough to get reviewed by an actual human.

Otherwise the video just gets flagged and there's no recourse.

Turn on the audio, it's to protect the manatee anteater's identity

That was so funny and clever.

It's a spectacular experience if you're lucky enough to see it at the zoo!

Out of luck if you wear glasses.

For a good time, check out any Casual Geographic video that mentions hippos on YouTube. I did not know they sprayed their fecal matter everywhere, but it fits my expectations of what to expect from a hippo.

That's when they do it on land. If you see underwater footage of them there's usually lots of brown grass bits floating around. That's hippo poop too.

This comes up in the movie Okja but I didn’t know it was based on a real thing

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