Old Brutus passed away

Brutus, Rondevlei’s pioneering hippo, dies at 47, closing a landmark chapter in Cape conservation.

Brutus, the first hippopotamus reintroduced to the Western Cape in three centuries, has died at the age of 47. His lifespan was exceptional by wild hippo standards, and he remained reproductively active until only recently. His death marks the end of a curious ecological experiment that has quietly shaped the Rondevlei wetland for more than four decades.

Staff at the False Bay Nature Reserve discovered the carcass during a routine patrol on 13 November. A veterinary examination the following day found no signs of trauma, disease or poor condition. The preliminary assessment points to natural causes associated with age; further tissue analysis is pending.

Brutus arrived at Rondevlei in 1981 as one of two young bulls released under the stewardship of reserve manager Howard Langley. Two females followed later, establishing a pod that would become both an ecological tool and a minor tourist attraction. The hippos were introduced to curb Vleigras, a fast-spreading South American species then choking the wetland. As bulk grazers capable of consuming 100kg of vegetation a day, they cleared reed beds and helped restore the system’s hydrological balance. Their diet today consists of indigenous buffalo grass, Vleigras and kikuyu.

The City’s deputy mayor, Eddie Andrews, called Brutus a “long-standing dominant male” whose absence will be felt. The remaining pod numbers five, including a young bull. The City is considering introducing a new male to maintain ecological stability. Over the decades, Brutus’s offspring have been relocated to reserves across the Western Cape, most recently to Plettenberg Bay.

His death draws a quiet line under an unusual but largely successful case of ecological intervention and proof that, sometimes, conservation relies as much on hungry herbivores as on human management.