Ep 79. Cocaine Hippos

Today we are talking about hippos! 6000 miles away from their natural habitat in Africa, a subspecies of the common hippo has formed in Columbia. These are known as the “Cocaine Hippos.” In the 1980’s the notorious drug lord, Pablo Escobar, illegally imported 1000’s of species of exotic animals to his zoo “Hacienda Napoles.” His prize exhibit were his four hippos, one male and four females. After Escobar’s death in 1993, most the animals were removed, from the zoo, but the hippos proved too difficult to relocate so were left to live out their lives. These hippos thrived in the lush green and wet Columbian environment they bred with each other and their numbers exploded. Eventually they escaped the ranch and have now made their homes in the lakes and rivers of Columbia, and they are wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. They have become the largest alien invasive species the world has ever know and now the Columbian government is desperately trying to find a solutions to control the population before their ecosystem collapses.

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Sources: 
https://www.hippoworlds.com/hippopotamus-social-structure/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippopotamus
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/hippo-fact-sheet/
“The Hunt for Escobar’s Hippos” Documentary by:  Andrew Graham Brown
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/22/vet-sterilising-pablo-escobar-hippos
https://www.rom.on.ca/en/blog/hippos-and-whales-unlikely-cousins
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/14/pablo-escobar-hippos-colombia-export-aoe