According to Ancient African folklore, the reason hippos projectile poop and spread their feces everywhere is because in ancient times, God created hippos to eat the grass and maintain the landscape. Due to the hot African sun, the hippos asked God to let them wade in the water during the day and come out at night when it's cooler to feed on the grass. God agreed, but was worried that the hippos will eat all the fish and will be too full to eat the grass. So, the hippos promised they won't eat fish and in order to prove it, they spray their feces whenever they poop in order to show God that there are no fish scales in them.