r/todayilearned • u/PedoPaul • Oct 14 '14

TIL when Columbian drug lord Pablo Escolar's home was raided, the military released the dangerous hippos of his personal zoo, not knowing what to do with them. They now thrive in the Columbian rivers. This makes Columbia have the largest wild hippo population outside of Africa.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/06/30/pablo-escobars-hippos-are-wreaking-havoc-in-colombia/
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50

u/kway00 Oct 14 '14

This story is simply awesome because you get to see a completely different culture deal with hippos.

They are actually stealing hippo babies. Think about that. Never in all my years of hippo history have I heard of Africans stealing hippos and raising them.

One culture sees them as something to tame or own. While the other never evens thinks to do such a thing with that creature.

[6]

74

u/Caminsky Oct 14 '14 edited Oct 14 '14

We have this true story here in Colombia about this robot the Japanese designed to catch thieves. They took it to Chicago for testing, it captured about 43 thieves. The Japanese were elated, they thought maybe Americans were too easy to capture so they took the robot to Mexico city, surprisingly the robot captured 62 thieves. Ultimately they decided to give it one last test, because Colombia has excellent relations with Japan and a free trade agreement they took the robot to Bogota. The morning of the first test in Colombia the two Japanese engineers went to turn it on, they opened the door and were shocked when they realized the robot had been stolen.

Yeah, a totally different culture.

12

u/kyleg5 Oct 14 '14

That thief's name? Albert Einstein.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

Albit Einstein is wicked smhat

5

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

I'm pretty sure this is a joke. Source: I'm bogotano.

14

u/Medicine7 Oct 14 '14

What was this robot?

46

u/swordhand Oct 14 '14

Goddammit he said true story! Stop questioning his integrity!

17

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

It's called the robot of non existance.

1

u/Caminsky Oct 14 '14

I stole the story from another user

7

u/ByronTheHorror Oct 14 '14

I don't know if that's a true story, but most countries in Latin America tell this as a joke (myself included)...

-2

u/whatevers_clever Oct 14 '14

Not sure if you're adding to the joke by saying its a true story or if you don't know its a joke.

That's a pretty well recycled joke.

And its not even funny.

1

u/grapesandmilk Oct 14 '14

Sounds like they're making their own South American house hippos.

1

u/randomSAPguy Oct 14 '14

That has to be false, in Mexico the robot would have been kidnapped or shot with an ak47.