The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report :: essays research papers fc

The Hippopotamus Endangered Species ReportJason Wapiennik Mr. Trippeer, Biology January 6th, 1997The ban on elephant ivory trading has slowed down the poaching of elephants, but at present poachers are getting their ivory from another creature, the river horsepotamus.For the poacher, the hippo is an easy target. They stay together for ample hoursin muddy water pools, as umteen as eighty-one can be found in a single square mile.This concentration is so big its only second to that of the elephant.Poachers kill the animal, then pick out the teeth and sell them for as much asseventy dollars per kilo. This is a very cheap price. Elephant ivory sells foras much as five-hundred dollars per kilo. The reason the price-per-kilo is soslow is because hippo ivory is very brittle compared to the much strongerelephant 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, around23,000 hippos. Ac cording to a count done in 1994, this number has straight off droppedto 11,000. The 1989 ban on elephant ivory is the main cause attributed to theexponential rise to hippo ivory trade."European and African activists are petitioning advocacy groups, including lastweeks yearbook Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Florida,for a ban on hippo poaching. But they say theyre a long way from putting anend to the slaughter." (Howard & Koehl)The hippopotamus is an enormous amphibious animal with smooth, hairless kowtow.Hippos can be found in Liberia, the Ivory Coast, and a few can also be found inSierra Leone and Guinea. Hippos used to be found anywhere south of the SaharaDesert where they could find full water and plenty of room to graze. Now, dueto poachers and predation they are confined to protected areas, but they canstill sometimes be seen in many major rivers and swamps.Hippos need water that is deep enough to cover them, but it also has to be very close to a pasture. They must wallow in the water because their thin, hairlessskin is vulnerable to overheating and dehydration. Hippos were once thought tosweat blood. Actually, hippos secrete a pinkish colored oil that helps themkeep their skin moist in the hot African climate.Hippos are herbivores. They prefer the short grass of African plains to anyother possible food. They normally eat up to eighty-eight pounds of this grassnightly, which they mow away a large patch at a time with their twenty-inch