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Colombian Court Orders Escobar's Hippos to Be Hunted

Hippos descended from a small herd introduced by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar are seen in the wild in Antioquia Department, Colombia, in April 2023. Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP/File
Hippos descended from a small herd introduced by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar are seen in the wild in Antioquia Department, Colombia, in April 2023. Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP/File
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Colombian Court Orders Escobar's Hippos to Be Hunted

Hippos descended from a small herd introduced by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar are seen in the wild in Antioquia Department, Colombia, in April 2023. Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP/File
Hippos descended from a small herd introduced by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar are seen in the wild in Antioquia Department, Colombia, in April 2023. Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP/File

A Colombian court on Friday called for the hunting of hippos, introduced to the country in the 1980s by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca set a three-month deadline for the Ministry of Environment to issue "a regulation that contemplates measures for the eradication of the species," which is affecting the area's "ecological balance."
In their homeland in Africa, the animals are responsible for more human deaths than almost any other animal, but in Colombia, the hippopotami have become loved members of the local community and a tourist attraction.
They've also been increasingly posing problems for the local community near Escobar's old ranch in Antioquia state -- one that experts worry may soon turn deadly.
After Escobar's death, hippos from his private zoo made their way into nature, in an area of abundant vegetation and where there are no predators.
There are now some 166 of the two-ton beasts wandering freely.
Attacks on fishermen have been reported on the Magdalena River, and experts argue manatee populations could be threatened -- though animal rights activists and tourism workers oppose hippopotamus hunting.
The court specified that measures to eliminate the hippos should include "controlled hunting and sterilization."
The environmental ministry had already announced last year plans to sterilize part of the population, while euthanizing others, as part of an effort to contain the growing number of hippos.
The sterilizations have proceeded slowly while no cases of euthanasia have been carried out.
Plans to move the animals to Mexico, India or the Philippines have also floundered.

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Varieties

King Penguins Are the Rare Species Benefiting from Warming World. But that Could Change

In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)
In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)
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King Penguins Are the Rare Species Benefiting from Warming World. But that Could Change

In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)
In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)

The warming world has disrupted the timing for plant and animal reproduction, and it's usually bad news for species that depend on each other — like flowers blooming too early and pollinating bees arriving too late. But researchers have found the rare critter that's getting a boost from the change: King penguins.

A new study of 19,000 king penguins in a sub-Antarctic island chain found their breeding is starting 19 days earlier than it did in 2000. Mating earlier has increased the breeding success rate by 40%, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances.

The study of timing in nature is called phenology. It's been a major concern for biologists because predators and prey and pollinators and plants are mostly adapting to warmer climates at different rates. And that means crucial mismatches in timing.

It's especially common in birds and pollinating species such as bees. Most birds, especially in North America, aren't keeping pace with changes in phenology, according to Clemson University biological sciences professor Casey Youngflesh, who wasn't part of the study.

Having a species like the king penguin adapt so well to seasonal shifts and timing changes “is unprecedented,” said study co-author Celine Le Bohec, a seabird ecologist at the French science agency CNRS. “It's quite striking.”

Unlike other penguins — which are threatened with dwindling numbers because of earlier breeding — the king penguin has the ability to breed from late October to March. And they are taking advantage of that flexibility, Le Bohec said.

They are succeeding even though the water is warming and the food web that they rely on is changing with it, said Le Bohec and study lead author Gaël Bardon, a seabird ecologist at the Scientific Centre of Monaco.

“They can adjust really well their foraging behavior,” Bardon said. “We know that some birds are going directly to the south, to the polar front. Some are going to the north. Some are staying around the colony and so they can adjust their behavior and that’s what makes king penguins cope really well with such changes for the moment.”

Le Bohec added that it may only be a temporary adjustment to an environment that is changing quickly. "So that’s why for the moment the species is able to cope with this change, but till when? This, we don’t know, because it’s going very, very fast.”

Other penguins that have limited diets are more threatened by changes coming from a warming ocean and the makeup of the food chain. But king penguins — which are so abundant they are considered a species of least concern — can eat other prey besides the lanternfish that makes up their primary diet, researchers said.

“The king penguin may have a bit of flexibility as a trick up its sleeve, and may be in a good position to adapt as their environment changes,” said Michelle LaRue, a professor of Antarctic marine science at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand who was not part of the study. But she said she wonders what happens after breeding because king penguins live 20 or more years in the wild and this study looks at only a small part of their lifespan.

Outside scientists are just as cautious as Le Bohec and Bardon over whether to declare the king penguins a rare good-news climate change story.

“Winning for this species might mean losing for another species if they are competing for resources,” The Associated Press quoted Clemson's Youngflesh as saying.

Ignacio Juarez Martinez, a biologist at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, who conducted a study of different penguins with earlier breeding, said: “This study shows that king penguins might be a winner for now, which is excellent news, but climate change is ongoing and future changes to currents, precipitation or temperatures can undo these gains.”

Varieties

Study: Despite Reputation, Bonobos Are Aggressive

A chimpanzee looks on at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, where rescued primates are rehabilitated in Western Area Peninsula National Park, Sierra Leone, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
A chimpanzee looks on at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, where rescued primates are rehabilitated in Western Area Peninsula National Park, Sierra Leone, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
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Study: Despite Reputation, Bonobos Are Aggressive

A chimpanzee looks on at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, where rescued primates are rehabilitated in Western Area Peninsula National Park, Sierra Leone, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
A chimpanzee looks on at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, where rescued primates are rehabilitated in Western Area Peninsula National Park, Sierra Leone, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

Historically considered a more peaceful species than their chimpanzee cousins, bonobos are actually just as aggressive -- but target their ire most often at males, according to a study published Wednesday.

Living in matriarchal societies, the gentle-eyed primates once dubbed "hippy apes" are far from violence-free, a group of European researchers reported in the journal Science Advances.

They studied 13 groups of bonobos and nine groups of chimpanzees -- who conversely live in patriarchal systems and are well known for their aggressivity -- in zoos, seeking to find out which is more prone to attacks.

Measuring different types of aggressive behavior, both physical and not -- such as throwing objects, intimidation, or biting and slapping -- they found "no overall differences in absolute aggression rates between the two species."

However, differences emerged "in how the aggression is distributed among group members," co-author Nicky Staes told AFP.

"In chimpanzees aggression mostly comes from males and is directed towards both males and females, whereas in bonobos aggression levels are quite equal in both sexes but are mostly directed at males," she said.

Emile Bryon, another co-author, said that, as bonobos live in female-dominant groups, the fact that both females and males direct most of their aggression toward males surprised researchers.

"Dominant individuals compete amongst each other for resources," he said, so "one could expect aggression among bonobo females. But our study says otherwise."

The relative lack of aggression among female bonobos could be explained by the species' well-studied use of sex to defuse conflicts, or the aggression may be "redirected towards males, who become buffers in the females' competitive dynamics," Bryon said.

The authors noted limitations to their findings due to the apes living in captivity, where food is not as much of a source of tension, but highlighted the variability of aggressiveness in both species.

Some groups of bonobos and chimpanzees appeared particularly prone to violence and others more peaceful, which "suggests that limiting our understanding of a species to a handful of groups can prevent grasping the full species-wide diversity in behavioral expressions," said Bryon.

As our closest primate relatives, the behavior of chimpanzees and bonobos are of particular interest to science.

"There is big debate in evolutionary anthropology whether humans descended from a violent ape or a more cooperative, peaceful one," Staes explained.

The new study suggests that "aggression was likely present in the common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and bonobos."

They also show that aggression can vary widely among apes, said Bryon.

"Recognizing this variation and understanding its roots suggests that it can be better understood, managed, and even reduced."

Varieties

Red Fox Stows Away on Cargo Ship, Traveling from England to US

This Feb. 19, 2026, photo provided by the Bronx Zoo on Wednesday, March 11 shows a red fox that stowed away on a cargo ship, crossed the Atlantic and is now at the zoo in New York. (Bronx Zoo via AP)
This Feb. 19, 2026, photo provided by the Bronx Zoo on Wednesday, March 11 shows a red fox that stowed away on a cargo ship, crossed the Atlantic and is now at the zoo in New York. (Bronx Zoo via AP)
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Red Fox Stows Away on Cargo Ship, Traveling from England to US

This Feb. 19, 2026, photo provided by the Bronx Zoo on Wednesday, March 11 shows a red fox that stowed away on a cargo ship, crossed the Atlantic and is now at the zoo in New York. (Bronx Zoo via AP)
This Feb. 19, 2026, photo provided by the Bronx Zoo on Wednesday, March 11 shows a red fox that stowed away on a cargo ship, crossed the Atlantic and is now at the zoo in New York. (Bronx Zoo via AP)

This stowaway truly was sly as a fox.

A red fox somehow slipped onto a cargo ship that traveled from Southampton, England, to New York, where the animal is now in the Bronx Zoo’s care.

The zoo said Wednesday that the 11-pound (5-kilogram) male fox appears healthy after early examinations.

“He seems to be settling in well,” Keith Lovett, the zoo's director of animal programs, said by phone. “It’s gone through a lot.”

It's not clear how the animal got on the ship full of automobiles, which left Southampton on Feb. 4, according to the zoo. The ship arrived Feb. 18 at the Port of New York and New Jersey, and officials brought the fox to the zoo the next day. He's estimated to be 2 years old, The Associated Press reported.

Zoo representatives weren't sure how and when the fox was discovered.

Messages seeking those details were sent to government agencies involved with the port.

The species, formally named Vulpes vulpes, is widespread in Europe, Asia, North America and parts of Africa. A long-term home for this fox will be found once he clears some more health screening.

For now, he's in the zoo's veterinary center. Being an omnivore, he's getting a diet of produce, proteins and some biscuit-like items.