Althouse: "In the 1980s, Escobar decided to make his own personal zoo on his palatial estate in Antioquia, Colombia, illegally importing... four hippos."

March 30, 2020

"In the 1980s, Escobar decided to make his own personal zoo on his palatial estate in Antioquia, Colombia, illegally importing... four hippos."

"When Escobar died in 1993, the government removed the animals to zoos and wildlife sanctuaries. Wrangling the grumpy hippos, however, proved too big a task. So there they remained without any natural predators, ready to breed like crazy. Today, Escobar’s herd has grown to upward of 100 strong. To residents, they are a threatening menace, but among scientists their presence is the source of spirited debate. Are Escobar’s hippos 'invasive'? Or are they 'introduced'? Are they threatening the local ecological community? Or are they helping to 'rewild' the area? The answer is far from clear, but the debate could change the way we think about preserving habitats.... [Hippos graze on land and] defecate in the water... and many scientists worry they could dramatically affect the ecosystem.... [But] South America was once home to many large herbivores, including a semiaquatic rhino-like creature known as a notoungulate. It was also home to the giant llama, which was similarly responsible for grazing and nutrient recycling in the ecosystem. But those megafauna disappeared thousands of years ago, largely thanks to humans.... 'We should be interrogating our conception of nature,' said Erick Lundgren, lead author of [a] study. For Lundgren, the point is not to say that hippos 'belong' in South America but to recognize that 'belonging' is a values-based concept created by humans.... Human intervention may make conservationists uncomfortable, but given the scale of our biodiversity crisis, it seems foolish to dismiss a tool that could help."

From "The great conundrum of Pablo Escobar’s hippos" (WaPo). A lot going on in that article, not much reflection. It seems foolish to dismiss a tool that could help... that's an inane way to sum up a problem! Yes, it's "foolish" not to give something any thought at all, but that's saying just about nothing. The comments over there are all over the place — some in the childish "I love hippos" category, some saying what about the poor people who live there, and others dragging Trump into it (as if life is a matter of: First person to make a Trump wisecrack wins).

54 comments:

mockturtle said...: Maybe they could build a hippodrome.; 3/30/20, 9:50 AM
rhhardin said...: The Hippo

A Head or Tail—which does he lack?
I think his Forward's coming back!
He lives on Carrots, Leeks and Hay;
He starts to yawn—it takes All Day—

Some time I think I'll live that way.

Roethke; 3/30/20, 9:55 AM
rhhardin said...: The beep on backup requirement originated with hippos.; 3/30/20, 9:57 AM
Lurker21 said...: South America was once home to many large herbivores, including a semiaquatic rhino-like creature known as a notoungulate. It was also home to the giant llama, which was similarly responsible for grazing and nutrient recycling in the ecosystem.

Sounds like my high school.; 3/30/20, 9:59 AM
Nonapod said...: given the scale of our biodiversity crisis, it seems foolish to dismiss a tool that could help

The tool being what? Humans introducing or reintroduing megafauna into environments that haven't had anything like them for thousands or even millions of years? There's far too many unknowns to determine if that sort of thing would be "good" in terms of increasing biodiversity. It seems to me that if you introduce a novel megafauna into an environment it'd be more likely to decrease biodiversity rather than increase it. They could potentially out compete the existing creatures that are currently filling the niches.

I mean, take these hippos. As large semi-aquatic grazers, could they push the other semi-aquatic grazers that are present in the region, like capybara?; 3/30/20, 10:02 AM
bagoh20 said...: Since humans themselves are an invasive species, we should get off our high water horse about that.; 3/30/20, 10:04 AM
Jimmy said...: Seems the only biodiversity crisis is at the WAPO and its readership.; 3/30/20, 10:04 AM
CJinPA said...: We should be interrogating our conception of...

This academic utterance is usually followed by an ideologically driven idea with negative outcomes for many, but not the academic uttering it.; 3/30/20, 10:04 AM
Todd said...: 'We should be interrogating our conception of nature,' said Erick Lundgren, lead author of [a] study. For Lundgren, the point is not to say that hippos 'belong' in South America but to recognize that 'belonging' is a values-based concept created by humans.... Human intervention may make conservationists uncomfortable, but given the scale of our biodiversity crisis, it seems foolish to dismiss a tool that could help."

OK, which way is it? Are we NEVER, EVER supposed to touch ANYTHING cause we will mess with nature (like some say we are "spoiling the moon) or are we supposed to intervene to "assist" nature but only when the enviros tell us to?

Or just screw it all and go back to what we were doing before which is to try and make the best use of "nature" as we can and "clean up after our selves" (which granted, we have not done enough, consistently enough of).; 3/30/20, 10:05 AM
Todd said...: I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
Don't want a doll
No dinky Tinkertoy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That's the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

Mom says the hippo would eat me up but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian
There's lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too!; 3/30/20, 10:08 AM
MadisonMan said...: But those megafauna disappeared thousands of years ago, largely thanks to humans

I wonder at the evidence presented for this assertion.

I recall American Idol from Season...7? Paige was shown drawing Hippos in a coloring book. Simon was not impressed -- Siobahn's story about giving herself a mohawk was more his style.; 3/30/20, 10:09 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Having a pet Hippo, is God's way of saying you're making too much damn money!; 3/30/20, 10:10 AM
Wince said...: What a coincidence!

Just yesterday I was thinking the Rollo the Hippopotamus costume worn by Cosmo Allegetti on the Captain Kangaroo show would have been a great method of enforcing "social distancing".

It was a big head with a rotund body comprised of very large hoops running down the torso, surrounded by a spotted pinkish fabric flesh.

I couldn't find a full-body image of Rollo. Here's a screen grab of a head-shot that may jog your memory.; 3/30/20, 10:11 AM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: I don't listen to anyone who says we should be "interrogating our conception" of anything. Even valid points are rendered too muddy by such thinking.; 3/30/20, 10:13 AM
Wince said...: BTW, Henrietta Hippo from the "New Zoo Revue" was an inferior imitation of Rollo.

Hippos don't wear clothes!; 3/30/20, 10:19 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: We're part of nature--its most successful part!; 3/30/20, 10:24 AM
DanTheMan said...: Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa. They kill more people than any other.; 3/30/20, 10:27 AM
Darkisland said...: Blogger mockturtle said...

Maybe they could build a hippodrome.

Two hippos enter, one hippo leaves? One way of culling the herd.

Everybody does realize that hippos kill more people each year than any other animal, right?

this is a pretty dumb debate (NOT BY Althousians). The hippos should be eliminated. Sent to zoos or killed.

John Henry; 3/30/20, 10:28 AM
Big Mike said...: I don’t regard this post as being one bit funny. Hippos are regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in the entire world, so if I were in charge I would kill them all, harvest the meat for charities, and harvest the tusks for ivory. And not leave dangerous animals where they can kill people.; 3/30/20, 10:29 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Introducing an invasive species is bad, but they were introduced by latinos, so it isn’t as bad as it could have been.; 3/30/20, 10:29 AM
Big Mike said...: Any time I find myself in agreement with John Henry my belief that I am right increases to 100%..; 3/30/20, 10:32 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Hippos are tremendous creatures, just fabulous at social distancing. No. Really. Hippos don’t get rhinoviruses because they are natural social distancers. Yuuge distances between makes especially. But I like hippos. I like social distance because I hate germs. I hate em! Who likes germs! Social distance. That’s the key. That’s it. Yuuge difference. Just do it like the hippos. That’s what I say. Let’s. Let’s uh get Dr. Fauci in here. Doctor. Excuse me. Doctor what about hippo distancing?; 3/30/20, 10:32 AM
Fritz said...: Second world problems.; 3/30/20, 10:36 AM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: as if life is a matter of: First person to make a Trump wisecrack wins

A lot of TDS suffers are like that. I have some liberal friends that cannot stand the fact that Trump is alive and if he cured cancer would find some way to criticize him for it. And its impossible to have a conversation with them. Everything, and I mean everything, comes back to Trump. He really is living rent free in their heads.; 3/30/20, 10:40 AM
Robert Roy said...: I'm more concerned about the fact that a herd of 100+ hippos originated with just 4. I don't imagine it's a healthy population for long, or are hippos immune to the detriments of inbreeding?; 3/30/20, 10:44 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: There are a number of Florida State Parks which are former private tourist attractions. One of them had a private zoo with a hippo. When the FPS took over they were at a bit of a loss as to what to do there as hippos don't fit into a Floridia wildlife focus. The Governor at the time cut the knot by declaring the hippo to be a naturalized Floridian who will live at the park until he passes, at which time he will not be replaced..; 3/30/20, 10:51 AM
boatbuilder said...: The government should auction licenses for hunters to have the opportunity to shoot hippos, and then use the money to buy up the land as a wildlife preserve, or do something to benefit the locals. I bet there are lots of wealthy hunters (probably some mid-level Columbian drug lieutenants who worked for Escobar) who would pay big $$ for that.; 3/30/20, 10:56 AM
Narr said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/30/20, 11:00 AM
Narr said...: Amen on the TDS wisecrack races. Tiresome. Even more tiresome than Trump.

Narr
Is it speciesist to observe that those hippos must fuck like rabbits?; 3/30/20, 11:01 AM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: I'm more concerned about the fact that a herd of 100+ hippos originated with just 4. I don't imagine it's a healthy population for long, or are hippos immune to the detriments of inbreeding?

There is a theory that about 70,000 years ago, due to the effects of a massive volcanic eruption, there may have been as few as 2,000 homo sapiens alive. Inbreeding is a problem, but in the wild nature helps correct the issues caused by it by killing off unfit animals before they can reproduce.; 3/30/20, 11:03 AM
Lurker21 said...: Hippos don’t get rhinoviruses because they are natural social distancers.

No, it's because they aren't rhinos.; 3/30/20, 11:28 AM
WK said...: Jose Exotic; 3/30/20, 11:31 AM
Leland said...: The government should auction licenses for hunters to have the opportunity to shoot hippos, and then use the money to buy up the land as a wildlife preserve, or do something to benefit the locals.

This. They are an invasive species. If that matters, then hunt them now. If it doesn't, and I'm not sure it does, then this story is not very important and the animals can just be left alone. Still, a solution is readily available, and unknown nails it.; 3/30/20, 11:31 AM
Fernandinande said...: Seems the only biodiversity crisis is at the WAPO and its readership.

Against my better judgment I opened the article only to be greeted with "Trump’s narcissism has never been more dangerous" right next to the title of the article. Then my better judgement returned.

Everybody does realize that hippos kill more people each year than any other animal, right?

That's not even remotely true. Hippos only kill about 500 people per year,

Humans kill 475,000 humans per year; Snakes 50,000; Scorpions 3,250; roundworms 2,500; tapeworms 2,000; crocodiles 1,000.

That omits mosquitoes, dogs, flies, snails, etc, which carry diseases that kill 100s of thousand of people every year.; 3/30/20, 11:34 AM
Fernandinande said...: Inbreeding is a problem, but in the wild nature helps correct the issues caused by it by killing off unfit animals before they can reproduce.

That indicates a massive misunderstanding of natural selection.; 3/30/20, 11:37 AM
Hey Skipper said...: For those of you having Amazon Prime, Grand Tour is the successor of Top Gear.

Last season, Hamster, Jezza, and Capt Slow did a hilarious Colombia episode that ended with these hippos.; 3/30/20, 11:40 AM
mockturtle said...: I'm more concerned about the fact that a herd of 100+ hippos originated with just 4. I don't imagine it's a healthy population for long, or are hippos immune to the detriments of inbreeding?

Exactly what went through my mind. I'm too lazy to do the math to see if this growth is even possible from four hippos [assuming one male and three females] considering the following: Female hippos reach sexual maturity between 3 or 4 years old, but usually, don’t start mating until they are about 7 or 8 years. After giving birth, a female hippopotamus won’t ovulate for about one year and a half. This means that a female generally only has one offspring every two years.; 3/30/20, 12:00 PM
Anthony said...: MadisonMan said...
But those megafauna disappeared thousands of years ago, largely thanks to humans

I wonder at the evidence presented for this assertion.

No one agrees. The Wiki page for it actually summarizes the arguments pretty well. There are problems with all of them, so it's probably some combination of Bad Things. I never bought the Pure Overkill hypothesis because a number of the same fauna went extinct in the Old World even though people had been around hunting them for thousands of years.

BTW, horses were re-introduced by Europeans after they had become extinct in the post-Pleistocene event(s), although that's a bit different from the hippos (oddly, "hippotherapy" refers to horses).; 3/30/20, 12:32 PM
Larry J said...: Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa. They kill more people than any other.

Except mosquitoes.

I live in the land of Kudzu, the imported plant that tried to eat the South. Invasive species are no joke. We already have infestations of jumping carp and snakehead fish. There are zebra muscles in the Great Lakes. Don't forget the brown snakes in Guam that have almost destroyed the native bird species. These and a host of other invasive species don't have natural predators in their new habitat and do a great deal of damage to the native species. Canadian Thistle is an invasive species that plant just sucks.; 3/30/20, 12:35 PM
Steven said...: Neither extinctions nor the introduction of new species are inherently good or bad; nor does whether the cause was natural or artificial make them so. They are only good or bad insofar as their consequences are in the judgment of humanity according to human values.

Some of those values are aesthetic. Terrified that they cannot morally defend their aesthetic values against human suffering, some people try the trick of declaring their aesthetic judgments sacred, beyond any comparison with mundane values. Thus the cult of "untouched Nature", in which the works of one, and only one, evolved species are declared to be inherently profane, without any logical explanation of how that is possible.

So, among believers in that ridiculous faith, the ludicrous contortions of arguing over whether the hippos are haram as a human-introduced invasive species, or halal as a replacement for a human-destroyed species.

And from those who know the faith is ludicrous, but still feel it a useful shield to protect their aesthetic judgments, a careful, cautious statement that we need to "interrogate" the faith, rather than reject it.; 3/30/20, 12:39 PM
Gahrie said...: Invasive species are no joke.

Remember the Left considers humans to be an invasive species in most ecosystems.; 3/30/20, 1:12 PM
Gahrie said...: more concerned about the fact that a herd of 100+ hippos originated with just 4. I don't imagine it's a healthy population for long, or are hippos immune to the detriments of inbreeding?

Not all inbreeding results in genetic damage. Most of the animals will be born healthy. As the population increases, good, neutral and bad mutations occur and will eventually result in a diverse population. If the herd is up to forty animals, it sounds like this has occurred.; 3/30/20, 1:21 PM
Narr said...: "Invasive species are no joke."

So, four hippos walk into a swamp . . .

Narr
It's a low bar; 3/30/20, 1:31 PM
Jaq said...: "For Lundgren, the point is not to say that hippos 'belong' in South America but to recognize that 'belonging' is a values-based concept created by humans.”

So is the planet’s ideal temperature, BTW.; 3/30/20, 1:54 PM
Jaq said...: " math to see if this growth is even possible from four hippos [assuming one male and three females] considering the following”

If you lived in the northeast, you will have seem maybe millions of starlings in your lifetime, flocks of hundreds of them are common. They started when some nutjob who thought that every bird mentioned in Shakespeare should be in America and he let *six* of them go in Central Park. Hippos aren’t starlings, but still.; 3/30/20, 1:58 PM
Ron Winkleheimer said...: That indicates a massive misunderstanding of natural selection.

No, it doesn't. At least not according to the American Museum of Natural History

"Natural selection is a mechanism by which populations adapt and evolve. In its essence, it is a simple statement about rates of reproduction and mortality: Those individual organisms who happen to be best suited to an environment survive and reproduce most successfully, producing many similarly well-adapted descendants. After numerous such breeding cycles, the better-adapted dominate. Nature has filtered out poorly suited individuals and the population has evolved."

https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/evolution-today/how-does-natural-selection-work; 3/30/20, 2:05 PM
Fernandinande said...: Larry J said...Except mosquitoes.

No, not except mosquitoes. A lot of animals directly kill more people than hippos do, as I pointed out above; I mentioned but omitted mosquitoes because they don't directly kill people, they transmit disease.

Dogs kill about 25-30,000 people every year by transmitting rabies, 50 to 60 times as many as the deaths as by hippos.

"That indicates a massive misunderstanding of natural selection."
No, it doesn't.

Yes it does.

At least not according to the American Museum of Natural History

That's a nice explanation for kids, and despite some falsehoods and inverted logic in their statement*, they got the gist of it correct.

You said: "Inbreeding is a problem, but in the wild nature helps correct the issues caused by it by killing off unfit animals before they can reproduce" which is false in a couple of ways.

Nature doesn't "help" or "correct" "problems", and you have cause and effect backwards. Note that the amnh statement didn't mention any of those words.

And "unfit animals" aren't necessarily killed off before they can reproduce, as you stated.

** amnh: "Those individual organisms who happen to be best suited to an environment survive and reproduce most successfully, producing many similarly well-adapted descendants."

They have that backwards: the ones who produce the most successful offspring are defined as the "best suited". And the word "many" shouldn't be there.

So it's a circular argument: the organisms which reproduce most successfully reproduce most successfully. There is no "problem" to be "corrected", as you stated, and sometimes mild inbreeding produces more fit animals.

"After numerous such breeding cycles, the better-adapted dominate. Nature has filtered out poorly suited individuals and the population has evolved."

That's the tendency, but a lot of survival is a matter of luck so their absolute statement is very often false; the most fit individuals in their normal environment might be "filtered out" by a plague or drought which would also kill the less-fit who were lucky enough to be somewhere else.; 3/30/20, 3:56 PM
Fernandinande said...: I'm more concerned about the fact that a herd of 100+ hippos originated with just 4.

Good point - and it's always good to doubt the Whappo.

Here's a better article.

"...nobody knows exactly how many there are—but estimates indicate there may be a total population between 80 and 100, says Jonathan Shurin, an ecologist with University of California San Diego who studies the animals.

That’s at least a couple dozen higher than estimates just two years ago. Given that there were four in 1993, the population appears to be growing exponentially. “Within a couple of decades, there could be thousands of them.”

"They also pose a danger to local residents since they can be territorial and aggressive, though no serious injuries or deaths have occurred as yet.

After one hippo was killed in 2009, there was a quick public outcry, quashing any plans to cull them."; 3/30/20, 4:03 PM
DavidD said...: “(as if life is a matter of: First person to make a Trump wisecrack wins).”

So it’s a corollary to Godwin’s Law, then?; 3/30/20, 6:07 PM
Nancy Reyes said...: Hippos kill more people in Africa than lions. Did anyone worry about the lives of local folks? Probably not: Heck, the animal lovers mourned when a stupid alligator here in the Philippines died (even though it had eaten a local 6 year old).; 3/30/20, 6:36 PM
James Pawlak said...: I understand that Hippo meat is very good and Hippo ivory is very salable; 3/30/20, 6:48 PM
Josephbleau said...: I want to copy Emily Latella and say 100 hippies introduced into the wild! Get rid of them quickly before they reproduce! Hippos Oh never mind.; 3/30/20, 7:23 PM
Josephbleau said...: The next South American crisis is how to cull out the introduction of invasive white people.; 3/30/20, 7:24 PM
KellyM said...: "Blogger Hey Skipper said...
For those of you having Amazon Prime, Grand Tour is the successor of Top Gear.

Last season, Hamster, Jezza, and Capt Slow did a hilarious Colombia episode that ended with these hippos."

If you're a Top Gear fan, go back and look for the African road trip that took them on the search for the source of the Nile. One of the boys' campsites was near the edge of a lake where a group of hippos came to drink and graze on marsh grasses at night. They could only be seen with night vision glasses as they waded into the water and stood around generally making nuisances of themselves. Not exactly something I'd like sashaying by my tent, thank you very much.; 3/30/20, 9:29 PM