# Just shoot the hippos! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 27, 2020, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600 "2020-02-27T13:19:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/21 "2020-02-28T11:33:39Z")
It would be expensive because you’d have to use bullets made of platinum. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/22 "2020-02-29T04:41:40Z")
Start a rumor that ground and dried hippo genitals are a human aphrodisiac. The males will vanish in mere weeks. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/23 "2020-02-29T05:17:16Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I suppose it’s because the people who live there don’t want to shoot them. If they decided to go the shooting route, if sterilization doesn’t work, I’d recommend getting a Rich American Douchebag™ to pay top dollar for the opportunity. > > And TIL… it’s very difficult to castrate a hippo, it seems that their testicles are well protected and, um… shift. A few years ago, I saw a show about an alpha male hippo that some scientists decided to sedate and neuter. They took various blood and tissue samples from him while he was sedated, and the vet who castrated him displayed his testicles afterwards. They were as big as her hands! He was killing other baby hippos, as the alpha male, and this was what they felt was the most humane action. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/24 "2020-02-29T05:19:05Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Start a rumor that ground and dried hippo genitals are a human aphrodisiac. The males will vanish in mere weeks. But only if they’re harvested from the Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/25 "2020-02-29T15:34:53Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > But only if they’re harvested from the Amazon. Not to be overly pedantic; the river mentioned in the article is the Rio Magdalena, which is not part of the Amazon basin. But I agree with the premise - make them more valuable dead than alive and they will be gone shortly thereafter. OTOH, how endangered are wild hippos in Africa? Could there be a need for a distinct, distant population in case of their demise in their homeland? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/26 "2020-02-29T16:03:02Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Not to be overly pedantic; the river mentioned in the article is the Rio Magdalena, which is not part of the Amazon basin. But I agree with the premise - make them more valuable dead than alive and they will be gone shortly thereafter. > > OTOH, how endangered are wild hippos in Africa? Could there be a need for a distinct, distant population in case of their demise in their homeland? Hippos are rated as vulnerable with a declining population. This is why I thought a new population might not be terrible. But if they are causing an impact locally, probably worse. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/27 "2020-03-02T21:28:29Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > It’s really not a good idea to import megafauna from elsewhere. Here is what happened when someone had the bright idea to bring North American beavers to [Tierra del Fuego](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/07/beaver-overpopulation-tierra-del-fuego/) in South America. > > Yes, they have tried [hunting them](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8qxkvb/beaver-slayers-of-patagonia) but it may be too late - there are too many. Or rabbits in Australia. They really do breed like rabbits. Australia to this day has a problem with them [http://www.petefalzone.com/handouts/exp-growth-rabbits-australia.pdf](http://www.petefalzone.com/handouts/exp-growth-rabbits-australia.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/28 "2020-03-02T22:03:33Z")
Hippopotamus to hippopotami is incorrect as it is false Latin - hippopotamus is Greek so I guess the plural should be hippoipotamus ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/29 "2020-03-02T22:05:52Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Australia to this day has a problem with them. Any [current graph of the Australian rabbit population](https://www.google.com/search?q=australian+rabbit+population+graph&rlz=1C1GCEB_enAU850AU850&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=9ej-B2V4jbDiJM%253A%252Cx2DHgXcCGzlt2M%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kQoMnxMkdwNRJg79irV5XO4yEumsw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi10NTn4vznAhXxzjgGHZNjDKIQ9QEwB3oECAoQKg#imgrc=IZphQ6mizdkloM&imgdii=JEKDAHV3SCybGM) will show that due to the introduction of several exotic biological control mechanisms that any seasonal exponential growth in the population is now off a much lower base and fatal negative feedback vectors cut in much more quickly. As an invasive and adopted species it remains a problem, but nothing like the[extent of the first decades](https://www.google.com/search?q=rabbit+plague+photo&rlz=1C1GCEB_enAU850AU850&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=KNYY9vWebu-qUM%253A%252Cw_nca6yKUsjg0M%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kS_PgyhapN2Mk9rUyXqSuY5dZ6VuA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQtr_L5fznAhVr4zgGHa_4A40Q9QEwAHoECAkQFw#imgrc=3caKirUbA7ng7M&imgdii=pxOV-QsnLugWJM) of last century. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/30 "2020-03-02T23:18:44Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Hippopotamus to hippopotami is incorrect as it is false Latin - hippopotamus is Greek so I guess the plural should be hippoipotamus In English, hippopotamuses or hippopotami so forget your Greek vs Latin. This is English. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/31 "2020-03-03T00:25:14Z")
Bullets have no effect- they have been shooting some with a revolver now for 65 years and those hippopotamuses are still going string, still wriggling their ears. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/32 "2020-03-03T00:48:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **nearwildheaven** : > > They took various blood and tissue samples from him while he was sedated, and the vet who castrated him displayed his testicles afterwards. They were as big as her hands! That’s… not very impressive, for an animal that size. I mean, have you ever seen an adult ram? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/33 "2020-03-03T13:13:09Z")
Wow - I misspell a country, and incorrectly refer to someone as having been arrested rather than shot. If I do say so myself, an impressive number of errors for a very brief OP! ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/34 "2020-03-03T15:52:05Z")
> [@](#): > > In the early 20th Century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. That is from an Amazon description of _River of Teeth_. The plan was not implemented, the book is an alternate history where it was. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/35 "2020-03-03T19:45:03Z")
Have hippos been napalmed yet? ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600/36 "2020-03-04T02:02:33Z")
No, but they are very hungry hungry [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-shoot-the-hippos/848600.md?page=1)