An international trade in hippopotamus teeth and tusks is fast becoming a legal substitute for elephant ivory, a leading conservationist warned. Azzedine Downes, chief executive of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the practice was concerning. Speaking during a visit to Dubai to discuss unlawful online sales of animal products, he said an increase […]
Tag: hippopotamus
How many hippos are too many? Proposed cull raises questions
The hippo — really? That’s the common response when tour guides in Africa tantalize travelers with this question: “What’s the most dangerous animal on the continent?” Lion? Rhino? Elephant? No, no, no. Eventually, the tour guide delivers the answer with a twinkle in their eye: the hippo, yes, that water-loving, one-tonne mammalian oddity. Despite their […]
Death by hippo poop: Scientists solve a fish massacre in the Mara River
In the Mara River in Kenya, fish die in the thousands every now and then. And the hippopotamus is to blame, a new study has found. Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) spend a considerable amount of time in rivers to cool off their bodies. They also spend a lot of time defecating in the water, their tails […]
POLL: Should the trafficking of Hippo Teeth be banned?
Tanzania is auctioning off nearly four tons of hippopotamus teeth today, raising concerns among conservationists that legally purchased teeth may end up on the black market, where demand for hippo “ivory” is already threatening their long-term survival. The teeth are from hippos that died naturally or were killed because they had dangerous encounters with humans, […]
POLL: Should hippos have a higher level of protection under CITES?
It seems almost incomprehensible that the desire for an ivory ornament or piece of jewellery justifies the slaughter of a majestic elephant, but as their populations continue to crash, the ever-hungry black market has become creative in order to satisfy its greed. Now, ivory hunters are setting their sights on everything from arctic narwhals to […]
POLL: Should the illegal trade in hippo teeth be stopped?
Kampala, Uganda – Investigators posing as buyers lured the suspects to a lodge near Buliisa, a town in western Uganda, as night set in. The two men arrived by motorbike with the contraband concealed inside a nylon sack. “They requested for me to take [the sack] inside a room,” one of the men, Fred Byenkya, […]
First Breath…
A newly-born hippopotamus (Hippopatamus amphibius) emerges from the murky waters of the Mara River for his first ever breath of air. Masai Mara, Kenya with Governors Camp.
Bloodsucking flies help scientists identify rare, hard-to-find mammals
Last year scientists released a study that is likely to revolutionize how conservationists track elusive species. Researchers extracted the recently sucked blood of terrestrial leeches in Vietnam’s remote Annamite Mountains and looked at the DNA of what they’d been feeding on: remarkably researchers were able to identify a number of endangered and rarely-seen mammals. In […]
