Historical Photos To Blow Your Mind: New Release!

Gargantuan

Here’s a trained circus hippo pulling a cart in 1924. Despite their size, hippos can travel up to 19 miles an hour. They are naturally semiaquatic creatures, meaning that they live in rivers, lakes and mangrove swamps.

This Barnes circus hippo was named Lotus, and Lotus doesn’t look all that happy to have a cart harnessed to her. While animals were popular attractions at circuses from the beginning, taking a hippo out of their natural habitat and forcing them to drag a cart around is cruel. Years after this picture was taken, animal rights activists would become very vocal about the use and treatment of animals in circuses.