Pablo Escobar’s hippos: Why drug lords shouldn’t play God | Big Think Top 10 2018 #10 | Lucy Cooke

Let the countdown begin! History and science (and danger) come together in our 10th most popular video of 2018. - Lucy Cooke—an acclaimed zoologist, author, and TV presenter—tells the story of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar's exotic animal menagerie, which included four hippos illegally imported from Africa. - Four hippos became eight, and eight became sixteen, and now this non-native creature is running wild in South America. Cooke explains why this is a moment in evolution — these hippos will evolve into a creature quite different to African hippos. She refers to them as Hippopotamus Escobarus. What will they look like thousands of years from now? - Lucy Cooke's latest book is The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife. Read more at BigThink.com: http://bit.ly/2LvLKfX Follow Big Think here: YouTube: http://goo.gl/CPTsV5 Facebook: http://bit.ly/1qJMX5g Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigthink