Hippos are traditionally found in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Another place where their population is rapidly
In this villa, the drug lord staged a homea zoo in which about ten hippos lived. After Escobar's death, most of the animals were relocated to various zoos, but four hippos managed to escape into the jungle. Apparently, the animals feel great in their new place - at the time of publication of the study, their number had grown to 80 individuals.
Researchers assessed the impact of the new species.on the local ecosystem - in particular, for two years they carried out a comprehensive assessment of water quality, oxygen levels and signatures of stable isotopes, and also compared microbiomes and species composition of insects, crustaceans and other organisms in water bodies with and without hippo populations.
We found that lakes are more productive whenthey have hippos. This can change the species composition of algae and bacteria and lead to problems such as eutrophication or saturation of water bodies with nutrients, accompanied by an increase in biological productivity, and harmful algal blooms.
Jonathan Shurin, lead author of the study
Previously, scientists concluded that genes,lost during the transition from land to water in cetaceans, show genomic changes caused by adaptation to the ocean. According to researchers, when cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) switched from life on land to life in the sea about 50 million years ago, 85 genes were inactivated in these species.