The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report

The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report

Jason Wapiennik Mr. Trippeer, Biology January 6th, 1997

The ban on elephant ivory trading has slowed down the poaching of elephants, but
now poachers are getting their ivory from another creature, the hippopotamus.
For the poacher, the hippo is an easy target. They stay together for long hours
in muddy water pools, as many as eighty-one can be found in a single square mile.
This concentration is so big it's only second to that of the elephant.
Poachers kill the animal, then pick out the teeth and sell them for as much as
seventy dollars per kilo. This is a very cheap price. Elephant ivory sells for
as much as five-hundred dollars per kilo. The reason the price-per-kilo is so
slow is because hippo ivory is very brittle compared to the much stronger
elephant ivory.

Elephant ivory is no longer at the biggest risk for poaching; hippo ivory is.
Eastern Zaire once had one of the largest hippo populations in the world, around
23,000 hippos. According to a count done in 1994, this number has now dropped
to 11,000. The 1989 ban on elephant ivory is the main cause attributed to the
exponential rise to hippo ivory trade.

"European and African activists are petitioning advocacy groups, including last
week's annual Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Florida,
for a ban on hippo poaching. But they say they're a long way from putting an
end to the slaughter." (Howard & Koehl)

The hipp...

The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report

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