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Post by heregoes on Feb 17, 2020 11:22:18 GMT -6
Even at Hacienda Nápoles, the hippos stood out. Given the marvels of Pablo Escobar’s 7,400-acre central Colombian hideaway, that was no small feat. The notorious drug lord’s $63-million ranch had its own airport and heliport. Man-made lakes. Life-size dinosaur statues. A fleet of collectible cars. A zoo filled with elephants, rhinos, giraffes, rare tropical birds and other exotic beasts. And still, people noticed the hippos. For good reason, said Jonathan Shurin, a UC San Diego biologist: “These are large, charismatic animals.” Advertisement They are also among nature’s prima donnas, requiring careful handling. After the Colombian National Police killed Escobar in 1993, zoos and private collectors acquired the animals, all except the hippopotamuses. Wallowing in the Magdalena River, they were too unwieldy, too dangerous, to move. In time, they escaped from the compound and wandered into the Colombian countryside. They remain there today, the only hippos in the wild outside Africa. Escobar started with four hippos. When Shurin obtained a National Geographic grant to study this pod in 2017, the population had swollen to about 65. Today, he estimates there are 80 to 100. “In 20 to 40 years,” he said, “there will be thousands.” here
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Post by GrumpyOM (RIP) on Feb 20, 2020 21:52:47 GMT -6
Weird looking critters, look like overgrown pigs, LOL.
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