Hippos wouldn't have been safe in a domestic environment.
Maybe not, but there are many more large animals in Africa that could have been domesticated. Elephants, Wildebeests, various species of gazelle, Zebra, etc. All of these species could have been domesticated, and are fairly similar to the pre-domestication versions of animals that were domesticated by Europeans and Asians (Asian Elephants, Horses, Cattle, Sheep, etc). Given a few thousand years of careful selective breeding (even without explicit knowledge of genetics), all of these species could have been domesticated and bred into a myriad of useful animals.
While I do agree principally most african variations are just more aggressive. African elephants and zebras are more aggressive by a great deal than asian elephants or other equine varieties. The relative aggression might be rooted in a lack of domestication efforts though.
They couldn't even invent the wheel. Did they even make fencing? Hard to herd livestock without fencing. Also why put in any effort when Jamal will steal it in your sleep and Tyrone will murder you when you object and that's just two of your twelve brothers let alone the 50 odd starving half brothers that make up the rest of your incestuous cesspool of a village.
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