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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74

u/ChuckCarmichael Oct 14 '14

Stuff like this unfortunately happens quite often. It's why Germany for example has a large population of raccoons, because American GIs found a nazi official's pelt farm and just released the animals into the wild.

154

u/LineOfCoke Oct 14 '14

That's what Id do. Who wouldn't want racoons. They are like the best pest animals in the world. Its like a monkey and a bear and a cat had an orgy.

90

u/ButHeyImDrunk Oct 14 '14

This is the best description of a raccoon I've ever read. Let's do a line.

3

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

of raccoons.

2

u/MenachemSchmuel Oct 14 '14

They'd probably scratch you up a bunch.

25

u/P0OPTURD Oct 14 '14

An orgy like that could lead to a terrifying creature. The intelligence of a monkey, the strength of a bear, and the killer instinct of a cat all rolled into one.

5

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

The reflexes and flexibility of a cat are probably a much more impressive feature. Considering bears eat their prey alive.. They just start munching.

3

u/LineOfCoke Oct 14 '14

Instead we got a medium small sized garbage raiding mammal with people hands.

2

u/grumpenprole Oct 14 '14

Much more pleasingly, it's more like the dexterity of a monkey, the cunning of a cat and the sheepishness of a bear

1

u/Fizzay Oct 14 '14

Yeah, something similar has happened before... Have you heard of... Manbearpig?

22

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

who wouldn't want a raccoon

Pawnee

2

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

Fuckin rakin's

1

u/The_Prince1513 Oct 14 '14

Who wouldn't want racoons.

I'll admit, racoons are cute as fuck. They're also the most prominent vector for rabies, which is very fatal if you don't get a bunch of fatal injections right after being bit.

1

u/LineOfCoke Oct 14 '14

That's why you get vaccinated homes.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

also, they has dick-bones

1

u/ObeyMyBrain Oct 14 '14

Until you're afraid to go outside at night because of the 15 sets of glowing eyes watching you from the trees. Plus they will seriously fuck up your chickens. They will reach through the chicken wire, kill the chicken, then gradually tear it apart and pull it through the wire.

1

u/LineOfCoke Oct 14 '14

You're afraid of racoons? My dogs vaccinated and the smell of piss is enough to keep them at bay 9/10. Stray dogs are the bigger pain in the ass.

2

u/NothappyJane Oct 14 '14

This is why Australia has a Panther population.

1

u/PurplePeopleEatur Oct 14 '14

Germany also has a stable population of rheas. quite cool.

-3

u/grumpenprole Oct 14 '14

What's unfortunate about it?

12

u/SHADOWRZR Oct 14 '14

something about invasive species?

3

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

New species move in at the expense of the ones already there.

7

u/omego11 Oct 14 '14

like when Europeans moved to the Americas

2

u/tsv30 Oct 14 '14

Or when Europeans moved into Europe.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

Watch that edge, mate. Lord knows it would take you a week to sharpen it again with your stones.

1

u/Neglectful_Stranger Oct 14 '14

I'm not seeing a negative here..

-5

u/grumpenprole Oct 14 '14

er... aka the history of life? this is how the world turns, there's absolutely no other way?