Colombian Drug Lord's Legacy: Four Hippos Become Local Menace
From the 1970s to the 1980s, international drug lord Pablo Escobar long-term stationed himself in Medellin, Colombia, he relied on the drug business to once rank seventh on the global rich list. In December 1993, Escobar was fatally shot on the roof of a house in Medellin by special forces, ending his life. And the hippos he raised in the estate at that time have now multiplied to about 80, which has begun to harm the local ecological balance.
According to the British 'Daily Mail' report on January 31, Escobar had spent money to buy a mountain and acquired a large area of land as a private zoo to raise and collect rare birds and beasts. After his death, this private zoo was confiscated by the government as a hunting theme park, and the majority of the wild animals he raised were reassigned to other zoos, leaving only two males and two females of hippos.
Now, scientists say that these four hippos have been passed down through generations and have multiplied to about 80, which has had a harmful impact on the waters of Colombia.
In the early 1980s, Escobar bought hippos from a zoo in California and transported them by air to his estate, and these hippos have multiplied and now are the largest wild hippo population outside of Africa.
Researchers spent two years studying the water quality and microbial communities of Colombian hippo populations, and compared them to lakes without hippo populations. Professor Jonathan Shurin of the University of California, San Diego, who is involved in this research, said that the hippo population has a negative impact on the aquatic environment, including promoting the growth of harmful algae and bacteria and the negative impact on water quality.
It is reported that hippos generally activity at night, and eat on land during the day, then return to the water to sleep, and excrete during sleep. This habit has changed the chemical and oxygen balance of the water body, promoted the growth of harmful algae and bacteria, and harmed the normal life of people and animals near the water.
And Escobar's hippos have now returned to the wild, they live in at least four lakes in the area, and have begun to spread to neighboring rivers, which makes the problem even more perplexing.
In addition, these hippos are more fond of breeding than their African relatives, because their living conditions are more perfect. Professor Jonathan Shurin said, 'If you calculate the growth trend of the local hippo population, it will be exponential. In the next few decades, there may be thousands of hippos wreaking havoc in the region.'
