![]() ![]() What scientists consider the “success” of their adaptation is due to plentiful food in the Magdalena River, combined with the lack of predators or human threats that they usually face in their African habitat. A scientific study published in the journal Biological Conservationin January claimed that by 2034 the hippopotamus population in Colombia could exceed 1,400. The only thing everyone agrees is that the hippos’ presence is a problem for the native ecosystem. ![]() The descendants of the hippopotamuses brought to Colombia by Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. It reminded some of another photo: the one taken of Escobar’s last moments, pursued and shot on a rooftop in Medellín. The photograph of the group with the dead hippo, proudly showing off their trophy kill, shook the country. Pepe was killed by two Germans, accompanied by the army. The government issued a permit allowing them to be hunted. In the summer of 2009, the hippo population hovered around 30, but they were already breeding in the wild in the Magdalena Medio region. The animals’ presence became a topic of conversation in Colombia when Pepe the hippo was killed – the first of the herd to suffer this fate. “My father was much crueler than the Pablo Escobar you see on Netflix” Garcés replies by telephone that the community has never seen them as “enemies,” and has never suffered any attack or aggression, save for an “isolated incident” of someone bothering them. Colombia’s state environmental conservation entity Cornare issued a statement asking people to stay away from these “extremely dangerous” animals. On October 31, one of them attacked a man and caused him serious injuries. The hippopotamus is the third largest land animal and can weigh up to three tons. “They cross the streets, like a dog might do, to get to a lake they like,” explains Garcés. The community has integrated the animals into their lives, and no one wants to hear about their possible removal. Mauricio Garcés likes to say that there is no other place in the world outside Africa where a herd of hippopotamuses lives as they do in Doradal, which is 240 kilometers from Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. What to do with them has become a matter of state. The hippopotamuses have survived him, but are now threatening the local ecosystem. At the height of his success, the most famous drug lord in history built himself a private zoo with more than 1,000 species illegally imported from all over the world. All are descended from the four brought to the country by the drug trafficker Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. No one knows exactly how many there are, but estimates put their number close to a hundred. “We have internalized that the hippopotamus is here with us,” says Mauricio Garcés, the local councilor for tourism. These are found in restaurants, souvenir stores and on posters to attract visitors. On the streets of Doradal, in Colombia’s Antioquia department, there are no statues of Simón Bolívar, religious figures or Spanish conquistadors. Hippos swim in a lake near Hacienda Nápoles in Colombia. ![]()
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