Escaped drug lord hippos are reshaping South American rivers
Four exotic pets belonging to a notorious billionaire have transformed into a massive, 170-strong herd that is currently rewriting the biological rules of Colombian waterways.
When Pablo Escobar's private zoo fell into ruin in 1993, four hippos escaped into the Magdalena River, finding a tropical paradise with no droughts or predators to thin their numbers. Today, these three-ton invaders are engineering a total ecosystem collapse. Each animal consumes 120 pounds of grass daily and deposits massive amounts of iron-rich waste directly into the water.
There's more to this story — open the app to keep reading.
Continue Reading in App
1 more paragraphs · plus a 2-question quiz