In the major cities and the big touristy places along the coast, sure. Out in the boonies, in places so far removed from “civilization” that hippos roam free ? Probably a different story.
This remarkable, if slightly alarming, tale, has me wondering whether Pablo Escobar had advice from the alternative history / fantasy author S.M. Stirling – who seems to have quite a thing about hippos being introduced into incongruous places.
Stirling’s novel “Conquistador” revolves around an alternative prehistoric California in the San Francisco area, which a few “our-time-line” types happen to get access to in the mid-1940s; they proceed therefrom, in great secrecy, to colonise it. The “big man” of this enterprise – a sort of benevolent tyrant – is (while not stupid) no great biology-and-wildlife expert; he just likes the idea of introducing to his Californian domain, an assortment of large animal species from elsewhere in the world (including hippos) – which he just finds it cool to have around, and for him and his cronies to hunt when they feel like it. With “this” California being extremely thinly populated by humans, the hippos seem not to be much of a problem.
In Stirling’s “Emberverse” novel series (premise, an “unnatural disaster” in 1998 causes, indirectly, the death of 95% of humanity worldwide): a decade or so after this regrettable happening, hippos escaped from zoos / safari parks are living and thriving in the rivers of the east of England; this presenting something of a hazard to those among the few surviving humans, who wish to use boats to get from A to B via those rivers. Hippos running wild in England feel, to this Brit, a bit implausible – but, climate change and all that – who knows?
Maybe we could build a Hippodrome for them.
By 'eck, Mr. ‘ippo, what does tha think tha’s doin’ 'ere? – well, what goes around, comes around…
Meantime, North American House Hippos run rampant.
Now, that’s got to be the result of excessive drug use.
Just seed the area that the hippos are in with volleyballs filled with a hippocide. Problem solved.
Just seed the area with the hippo’s natural predator. I dunno… crocodiles or something.
No need to seed. They’re already there.
Well, get more of 'em! Then when the hippos are gone, seed the area with the crocodile’s natural predator. I dunno… bootmakers or something.
In their native environment, I don’t think adult hippos have much to fear from crocodiles – and these are Nile crocs, a lot bigger than Orinoco crocs.
A Hippø once tried to bite my sister.
Elefino!
Well, of course the hippos didn’t go around killing people in Columbia. They had Pablo Escobar do it *for *them.
We laugh, but they are probably moving north.
First we had the Africanized Killer Bee invasion. Next will be nests of Hippos waiting for some unsuspecting toddler to waddle by.
Hippocrisy.
Are we sure that’s actually going to happen? The news article indicates a herd of 50-60, but apparently they are all descended from an initial group of just three females and one male. In terms of genetic diversity, that’s damn close to zero, and such a lack of diversity is known to cause physiological problems. Cheetahs for example are suffering from fertitility problems, and it’s believed to be related to a population bottleneck that occurred during the last ice age.
I’m not a biologist, but I would guess that this population of hippos will snuff outself out in the long run.
I have vague memories of my parents suggesting a family vacation to a cabin where we could watch the feral hippos of Colombia.
My sister dubiously said “Hippo camp? Us?”
No. Just…no.
I am revoking your internet privileges for 24 hours. Please turn off any and all devices that can connect to the internet. You are on your own recognizance, and pay no attention to those drones approaching your window…