By Nick Engelfried
In Colombia’s Magdalena River, a pair of big eyes and two round ears protrude above the water. A long snout slopes away from the eyes, toward a pair of huge nostrils that hint at the very large animal concealed beneath the surface. It’s a full-grown hippopotamus, a species that can reach 16.5 feet in length and weigh over four tons.

Hippos are well-adapted to the tropical river environment of the Magadalena–but they are newcomers to the area, having lived here for only about three decades. Now, as their numbers continue to multiply, the Colombian government is trying to manage dangers posed by hippos to local communities and possibly native wildlife. Indeed, the dilemma over what to do with Colombia’s feral hippos has become one of the most fascinating case studies in how animal rights, conservation values, and human safety play into debates about introduced or “invasive” wildlife species.

All of Colombia’s nearly 170 wild hippos descend from just four individuals who were illegally imported into the country in the 1980s, to live in captivity in the menagerie of the wealthy drug lord Pablo Escobar. Escobar’s private zoo also included elephants, giraffes, camels, ostriches, and other exotic animals not native to South America, most of which were transported to other zoos or sanctuaries after the kingpin was killed in a shootout with police in 1993. The hippos proved especially difficult to transport, however–and as the hacienda housing Escobar’s menagerie fell into disrepair, they escaped into the nearby river.

Despite their cute appearance, hippos are highly dangerous animals with powerful tusks and the ability to outrun a human on land. In their native Africa, they are responsible for killing more people than any other mammal, and fears about their ability to inflict damage prevented Colombian officials from immediately interfering as the animals adapted to life in the wild. Soon, they began to breed and became a common sight along the Magdalena River.

Escobar’s original hippos were brought to Colombia through no fault of their own, and in defiance of national laws regulating the transport of exotic animals. When presented with the opportunity to leave a life in captivity in which they were treated as mere status symbols, the animals were probably eager to escape. It is also not the hippos’ fault that they are well suited to a warm river environment like the Magadlena. Yet, while the presence of the animals has delighted tourists and some locals, others worry about their impact on the environment.

Globally, invasive species are a major driver of biodiversity decline and can have devastating impacts on native plants and animals. In the United States, for example, the National Wildlife Federation estimated that fully 42 percent of threatened and endangered species are imperiled by invasives. However, the immense size of Colombia’s hippos notwithstanding, it’s unclear exactly what the extent of their impact on local animals and plants has been.

Hippos are much bigger than any living animal occurring naturally in South America, and they fill an ecological niche not exactly equivalent to any native species. Still, they eat an immense amount of vegetation, and conservationists worry about their potential to compete with native herbivores like manatees and capybaras. They also trample plants beneath their massive feet–and their droppings have polluted lakes and streams where they now occur, adversely impacting fish.

Colombia’s hippos also pose a danger to people. There have been no confirmed human fatalities from hippos in the country so far, but local fishermen have been attacked by the animals, and a more deadly encounter seems almost inevitable over time. Of course, humans in Africa coexist with hippos and have lived alongside them for millions of years. Yet, the addition of a new, dangerous animal to the local environment in Colombia has understandably been unwelcome by some.

Humanely removing Colombia’s feral hippos would be no easy feat, however, and efforts to eliminate them are widely opposed by animal rights groups as well as the tourist industry. In 2009, locals protested the killing of a hippo known to the local community as Pepe. In 2012, hunting the animals was banned in Colombia–but a recent court decision is set to overturn this prohibition.

In 2022, the Colombian government officially classified hippos as an invasive species, paying the way for drastic steps to remove them. This past September, a Colombian court ordered the Ministry of Environment to make a plan to eliminate the hippo population that would include “controlled hunting and sterilization.” It’s likely killing feral hippos will be legalized and even encouraged as a consequence. Yet, some scientists argue treating Colombian hippos purely as ecological troublemakers is a mistake.

Today, South America is not home to any native animal as large as a hippopotamus. However, thousands of years ago the continent supported a diverse array of huge animals, from giant ground sloths to massive hoofed mammals known as toxodonts. The disappearance of these prehistoric creatures near the end of the Pleistocene epoch may have been caused at least in part by the arrival of early humans in South America; regardless, their extinction left open ecological niches that have gone unfilled by any native species for millennia.

Could hippos descended from the ones Escobar smuggled into Colombia help restore the ecosystem to something more closely resembling the one that featured giant ground sloths and toxodonts? It’s possible–or at least, that’s the conclusion reached by a study published in 2020 that looks at how large, non-native mammals in some parts of the world may fill niches left vacant by human-caused extinctions. According to this paper, Colombia’s hippos inhabit an area once home to giant llama-like animals who reached a similar size and have had a similar impact on the ecosystem.

For now, the fate of Colombia’s wild hippos is unclear. Though a legalized hunt now seems all but guaranteed, what form it takes and whether it will succeed at eliminating the big animals remain to be seen. Around the world, introduced species have proven very difficult to exterminate once they become established–and an unsuccessful hunt could inflict death and suffering on scores of animals while doing little to stop their spread in the long term.

What’s clear is that when it comes to an issue as complex as the arrival of hippos in Colombia, public education is an essential tool to ensure policy decisions are based on the best available information. For now, we can all help by staying informed and spreading the word about the environmental, animal welfare, and human safety implications of this still-unfolding story.

Photo credit: Pixabay

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Nick Engelfried Writes About Animals, the Environment, and Conservation for the ForceChange network