Hippos are crazy territorial, so my money would be on them. It's hard to imagine a rhino losing the battle, but the pure unfiltered rage of a hippopotamus when you trespass his territory will frighten even the boldest of rhinos.
Just made me think. Do the animals that win so much become smart because they're the top, or do they become smart then hit the top of the food chain?
Always column a and b... but I can almost guarantee mammalian apex predators get smarter the higher they are on the food chain due to increased and varied food supplies. Giving it a better and stronger reinforcement mechanism for increased intelligence...
I didn't know that, but in that case i think there are 2 scenarios that are interesting - a matchup of the ones most capable of winning a fight, and a matchup of the most common ones.
I feel like thr hippo just has a higher ring IQ. Like, rhino has got the nose but I think the hippo would just controll the pace of the fight so that it couldn't come into play
They don't, there's videos of them squaring off. The hippo opens its mouth and the rhino just sticks its horn in. I imagine neither is happy about the situation, as I wouldn't want to stick my nose in a hippo's mouth myself.
I think the rhino would be able to get a nice stab wound in once maybe twice, but after that the sheer power of the hippos bite with destroy the rhino as theyre close.