The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report
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…