Feral Hippos In Columbia

[steve_bank]

Heard this on the BBC. When Escobar was killed Hippos from his private zoo went feral. In the report there are about 100 in the wild on a river. As in Africa they are aggressive attacking fishing boats.

Activists oppose killing them so they are rrying to castrate the males. Problematic due to size and that the genitals buried inside fat and skin.

Hippopotamuses in Colombia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In the late 1970s, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar kept four hippopotamuses in a private menagerie at his residence in Hacienda Nápoles, 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Medellín, Colombia. They were deemed too difficult to seize and move after Escobar's death, and hence left on the untended estate.

By 2007, the animals had multiplied to 16 and had taken to roaming the area for food in the nearby Magdalena River.[1][2] In early 2014, there were reported to be 40 hippopotamuses in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia.[3]

The estimated population in December 2019 was around 90–120, with their range covering around 2,250 km2 (870 sq mi) and now extending into Santander; it is expected that the population will almost certainly increase to more than 150 individuals within a decade and could reach up to more than 200 hippos, while the range eventually could cover more than 13,500 km2 (5,200 sq mi).[4] Population projections estimate that there could be thousands within a few decades.[5] The Colombian hippos reach sexual maturity earlier than African hippos.[6]

Being non-native introductions, most conservationists considered them problematic and invasive in Colombia, as they have the potential to change the ecosystems, feeding heavily on plants and displacing native species like the West Indian manatee, Neotropical otter, spectacled caiman and turtles.[4][7][8] The critically endangered Dahl's toad-headed turtle and Magdalena River turtle are largely restricted to the Magdalena River basin,[9] as are many threatened fish.[10] In 2020, a study showed that there was an increase in the nutrient levels and cyanobacteria in Colombian lakes inhabited by hippos. Cyanobacteria can cause toxic algae blooms and die-offs of aquatic fauna. Despite the limited magnitude of the observed change, it was noticeable since the species' population was still quite small.[7][8]

In contrast to the opposition by most conservationists, some ecologists have argued that they should remain and might even have a positive effect on the local environment. It has been suggested that the nutrients they introduce to the water and the occasional fish kills caused by them are overall positive,[7] but this was based on a study in their native Africa.[11] Alternatively, the introduced hippos could be a form of Pleistocene rewilding project, replacing species like Toxodon that became extinct in prehistoric times,[7] but Pleistocene rewilding itself is highly controversial.[12] Others have argued that the Colombian hippos should be regarded as a safe population, isolated from the threats faced by African hippos, and that they could be beneficial to the local ecotourism industry.[7]

 

[atrib]

Colombia, not Columbia. I don't want to be attacked by feral hippos in Columbia, South Caroline.

Also, I don't want to be the guy who castrates a feral hippo.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I thought there piranhas down there.

 

[steve_bank]

The Southeast has feral hogs dmgerous to the ecology.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Yeah. I think they were hoping the problem would go away, but now it has got to be almost out of hand. They needed to sterilize the hippos when it was a dozen or so... but... why don't you go and sterilize them. At 100, it is close to being uncontrollable without harsh actions. Castration is very hard because you need a crane to lift the hippo. So the hippo needs to pass out near the crane.

And things are worse than it seems. Hippos have to endure the arid dry summer in Africa. Yes, they get first dibs on ponds of water, but those dry up and are limited. In Colombia, they have no environmental limits. They are generally good for helping an environment, but dreadfully awful for any humans they are near. But the environmental benefit is kind of unknown as again in Africa, they help areas thrive for short periods before arid times, so there is always a reset. In Colombia, the hippos are all the time. The plus minus is to be determined, much like their population. They don't have predators and an endless supply of food. If they don't cull the herd, who knows how many will exist, which is typically the number of hippos the land will allow.

Colombia, not Columbia. I don't want to be attacked by feral hippos in Columbia, South Caroline.

Actually, it isn't well known but Columbia University also suffers from a feral hippo pod of about 5. It isn't as bad as in Colombia, but they always snag all the pizza at the food court before. No one is quite sure where they came from. One days there weren't hippos at Columbia, and the next, there were.

Also, I don't want to be the guy who castrates a feral hippo.

I was watching a video on this hippo pod... (Escobar pod, not Columbia University one) and then they started showing the castration, and I'm thinking "I wasn't ready for this". Much like how I wasn't ready for a throat of a goat to be sliced in graphic detail in a video about an African musical instrument during a video at the Met in NYC.

 

[lpetrich]

Hippo Haven | Science| Smithsonian Magazine

To many, the hippo is a comical creature. In the Walt Disney cartoon Fantasia, a troupe of hippo ballerinas in tiny tutus performs gravity-defying classical dance with lecherous male alligators. But many Africans regard hippos as the continent’s most dangerous animal. Although accurate numbers are hard to come by, lore has it that hippos kill more people each year than lions, elephants, leopards, buffaloes and rhinos combined.

I'd have to research more to find out why they are so dangerous. Could it be because they don't seem very obviously dangerous to us?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Hippos appear (and are) aloof out of water. But can run upwards of 20 mph when necessary (if someone is near them or an ice cream truck is approaching). They are enormously territorial as well.

In water, hippos generally are at the bottom of the water, and if you boat near them, they can catch them by surprise.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Hippos are short tempered, can be very aggressive and persistant and are very big and surprisingly fast. The are a top killer in Africa.

 

[steve_bank]

You'd be cranky too if you were heavy and lived in water keeping your nose above the surface.

 

[Bomb#20]

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Effectively the same premise, just without the procreation. After all, it all started as one hippo, that was all alone, and decided to call two hippos on the phone. Before you know it, there are three more hippos at the door and they brought along another four! It is a slippery slope when dealing with hippos. In no time, there is a raucous party with a countless number of hippos and who is going to tell them it is time to go?! And Colombia is up to about 100 hippos. What happens when 101 show up at the airport to join in with the other 100?

 

[steve_bank]

Clara (rhinoceros) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Clara (c. 1738 – 14 April 1758) was a female Indian rhinoceros who became famous during 17 years of touring Europe in the mid-18th century. She arrived in Europe in Rotterdam in 1741, becoming the fifth living rhinoceros to be seen in Europe in modern times since Dürer's Rhinoceros in 1515. After tours through towns in the Dutch Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, Switzerland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, France, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Papal States, Bohemia and Denmark, she died in Lambeth, England.

In 1739, she was drawn and engraved by two English artists. She was then brought to Amsterdam, where Jan Wandelaar made two engravings that were published in 1747. In the subsequent years, the rhinoceros was exhibited in several European cities. In 1748, Johann Elias Ridinger made an etching of her in Augsburg, and Petrus Camper modelled her in clay in Leiden. In 1749, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon drew her in Paris. In 1751, Pietro Longhi painted her in Venice.[1]