Monday, January 17, 2022

Pablo Escobar’s Hippos

Annamaria on Monday

 

Last month, MIchael brought up a topic that is tailor-made for the likes of me. It links the history of arguably the most successful criminal ever with South America and Africa. It sent me to research and find out more. So here is my expansion on his fascinating post about cocaine hippos.


 

The Bad Guy

 

Though Pablo Escobar only lived to the age of 44, through crime he became one of the richest men in the world.  Like many other college dropouts, he started small, in his case selling illegal cigarettes, stealing cars, and counterfeiting lottery tickets.  Before he was done, he had a worldwide distribution system for his monthly shipments of 70 to 80 tons of cocaine out of Colombia.  His exports went pretty much everywhere.  He also massacred rivals, police officers, judges, people who just happen to live nearby, and politicians. For a while he became a politician himself and ran for office as a member of the Chamber of Representatives.  When he was shot by the police in 1993, his net worth was estimated to be $30 billion. The equivalent today would be $64 billion.


 

In this blog, though, we are going to focus on one of his minor crimes, the one Michael brought up. Once Escobar was established on his 20 km2 (7.7mi.²estate in Colombia, he broke a law by importing around 200 animals from all over the world for his private zoo. Among them, were four hippopotamuses – one male and 3 females.  After his death, the other animals were distributed to zoos all over Colombia. Because moving even one hippo is a major endeavor, the big beasts were left in the river where they were. The killer left behind a time bomb.

 

 


Africans in South America

 

In their native Africa, the hippo population is controlled by their natural predators and the local climate. The predators of course keep the population down by eating some of them.  But also, because their habitat in Africa is subject to periodic drought, the fluctuating food supply limits their population growth.



Those hippos that Escobar had brought into the country have no such enemies.  And its rich food supply has lowered the age of reproduction, boosting their birthrate.  By 2007, there were 16.   In 2019, there were between 90 and 120.  Estimates are that within a decade they will have spread to an area of 13,500 km² (5200 mi.²)  Left to their own devices, they will be out of control in less than 20 years.




Because they have the potential to change the ecosystem, conservationists consider them an invasive as a species.  They threaten the manatee already in danger of extinction, as well as the local otters and turtles and the endangered fisheries of the River Magdalena. Because they eat on land and poop in the water, they increase aqueous nutrients that can cause toxic algae blooms and kill off aquatic fauna.




 

When an ecological invader is a plant, the solution is to weed it out.  Not so easy with a critter that can weigh up to five tons and be very aggressive.




A simple expedient to get rid of them would be hunting.  Only one has been shot so far.  His name was Pepe, a hippo who chased and badly injured a local farmer. The army went in with two German hunters, who killed him.  Photos of the event in the news elicited a huge outcry from animal rights groups within Colombia and around the world.  And a flood of objections from those involved in local Echo tourism, for whom the "cute" hippos were a draw.


A splinter group of conservations posited that the hippos should be allowed to multiply.  There had been huge herbivores in that area in the Pleistocene age. Since they believe in “rewilding,” they feel that the imported African species could contribute to an outcome they consider desirable.  Mainstream ecologists reject this idea.  Still, those in favor of clearing out the hippos have become the target of abuse and death threats.



With shooting now off the table, those trying to avoid catastrophe have been seeking ways to limit the fertility of the big beasts.  They tried surgery on one male, which involved capturing, anesthetizing, castrating, and then releasing a creature of about 6000 pounds. It worked, but it cost a little over $50,000. Certainly, that was not the answer.  These days, they are using chemical castration.  The hope is that this technique will limit the population and forestall the future disruptive effects of the invaders.

 

                               Annamaria with her favorite hippo in Rome

13 comments:

  1. As usual, the problem isn't the hippos. The problem is the people...

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  2. You were my muse on this one, Michael! People are, certainly, the most dangerous animals on earth! Even when we don’t intend to be. When will they learn? When will they ever learn?

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  3. The hippo in the photo needs a skateboard under its belly! However, I vote for the mosquito as being the most dangerous animal, at least with respect to number of humans killed!!

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    1. I thought the same thing, Stan. Then I thought it might be a pregnant female. Just the thing the conservationist are trying to avoid.

      I agree about the mosquitoes, but their danger is in microbes that they carry. After the last year, I’m sure we all understand that microbes are the most deadly creatures on the planet. But we also can’t live without microbes. There’s no getting around it. Once human beings evolved, all of the life on the planet became very complicated.

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  4. I guess importing lions and crocodiles to keep the hippo population down naturally is out of the question? (yes, I'm one of those people who creates problems when I'm trying to help)

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    1. Thank you, Ovidia! On the island of Saint Kitts in the Caribbean, there are two invasive species of mammals. One, the green monkeys, were brought in as pets by captains of slave ships. Last time I checked there were about 30,000 of them on the island, making it impossible to grow any crops except for sugarcane, which the Islanders would surely like to change. But the monkeys eat any other thing they tried to grow.

      In the 18th century, sugarcane workers were plagued with poisonous snakes. The Brits and the French brought in mongooses to control the snake population. Once they did their job the mongooses became a pest. They are still there too. In this case the predator didn’t have a predator of its own in that environment.

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  5. Ah, humanity. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

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  6. Yup! Like Kurt Vonnegut, I am not at all sure that human evolution was a good idea. That said I’m glad I’m here, and I’m really glad you were here EvKa!!!

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  7. You look terrific, Sis, in your Kubu tee! Not sure what the solution is to the hippo crisis, but I from what you wrote, I fear it shall end in tears. The only question is, 'whose tears?"

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    1. "I fear it shall end in tears. The only question is, "whose tears?"

      It seems to me that's a pretty accurate statement, more often than not, regardless of the subject of 'it.' Alas.

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  8. I say send contraceptive darts to keep down the hippos from reproducing and yet not to harm or kill them. And develop those contraceptives for males as well as females, so the females do not have to bear the burden of family planning once again.

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  9. The Scientists are on your side, Kathy. Mine, too. The goal is to stop the males from procreating. Since hippos live in pods of many females and one male, this is the most efficient approach. They dart the male to put him to sleep and then inject him. That’s what a the environmental biologist has in that huge needle in the photo above.

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