"How the U.S. Almost Became a Nation of Hippo Ranchers" Topic
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Tango01  | 28 Apr 2025 5:14 p.m. PST |
"In 1884, the water hyacinth delighted audiences when it made its North American debut at the Cotton States Exposition in New Orleans. With its delicate purple flowers and glossy leaves, the Amazonian plant was poised to become the new frontier of ornamental gardening, the fair's organizers proclaimed, handing out hyacinths to anyone who wanted them. But beneath its pretty exterior, the hyacinth hid its true nature as a malevolent marauder. The plant spread like a virus first in Louisiana and then in Florida. Within 20 years, it had overtaken waterways across the South, threatening long-established trade routes. Workers hoping to halt the hyacinth's growth broke the plants apart and dredged them from the river banks; they soaked the blooms in gasoline and set them on fire. Each time, the hyacinth not only survived but also thrived…"
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Armand |
 ochoin | 28 Apr 2025 11:52 p.m. PST |
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| Choctaw | 29 Apr 2025 7:09 a.m. PST |
And we thought feral hogs were a problem. |
| Grelber | 29 Apr 2025 12:08 p.m. PST |
Whoopi-ti-yi-ay, get along little hippos! Grelber |
| JMcCarroll | 29 Apr 2025 3:20 p.m. PST |
Great idea! Bring the most dangerous animal from Africa here. At least we would have Buffalo guns back then. |
| Tango01 | 29 Apr 2025 4:00 p.m. PST |
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 piper909 | 29 Apr 2025 8:05 p.m. PST |
And here I thought my town of "Hippo Beach" as a setting for a Wild West scenario was fantasy! (The townspeople have a hippo on exhibit that escaped from a derailed circus train and this is their claim to fame and visitor dollars -- but neighboring Apaches regard this animal as a sacred totem to be rescued, outlaws want to seize it for themselves, and it all gets so messy!) |
| Zephyr1 | 29 Apr 2025 10:52 p.m. PST |
"How the U.S. Almost Became a Nation of Hippo Ranchers"
"They didn't?" They did, but the hippos crossbred with rabbits, and now the US is infested with nutria… ;-) |
| troopwo | 30 Apr 2025 7:25 a.m. PST |
A Colunbian drug lord had his own private zoo. When he was finally arrested they left the hippos on their own and they promptly broke loose and made for the local river. Twenty years later there is a herd of two hundred and growing of them, on the loose with no known predators. Wonderring how 'Mark Twain' would have to be re-written to include the dangers of hippos on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers? |
| Tango01 | 30 Apr 2025 4:02 p.m. PST |
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goes beyond the straight line.