This is the adorable moment a tiny baby hippo tried to scare off an adult rhino away from a watering hole.

Clive Else, a wildlife enthusiast, from Johannesburg, filmed the incredible encounter in the bush at Welgevonden Game Reserve, in Limpopo, South Africa.

The precocious hippopotamus calf tries his luck by attempting to scare off his massive opponents from some tasty grazing grass and drinking water.

A baby hippo faces up to a rhino in a wildlife reserve at Welgevonden Game Reserve, in Limpopo, South Africa

The tiny hippo opens his mouth and does a ‘threat pose’ as it tries to scare the rhino away from the watering hole

During the video, the young hippo attempts several times to scare off the large rhino whose two pals are just out of shot.

Each time the hippo backs down and runs back to the water, but quickly emerges again to try his luck.

The little creature even opens his mouth in the threat posture adult hippos use to show off their huge tusks – except this baby hippo has very tiny tusks.

Mr Else was on a weekend bush break with his wife at Nungubane Lodge when he spotted the action out on a game drive with a game reserve guide.

The baby hippos cuddles against it’s mother, taken by wildlife enthusiast Clive Else

Opening it’s mouth, the young hippos tries to look scary as it tries several times to chase the hippo away

He said: ‘At first I could not believe what was going on in front of us as we pulled up at the water hole.

‘Initially I thought it was a baby rhino wanting to join an adult group, there were three sub-adult males in a bachelor group grazing on the bank of the water hole.

‘But I quickly realised it was too small, it was a hippo and its mum was lurking in the water a few metres away.’

The rhino chases the little hippo who runs off scared back into the watering hole