House Resolution 23261, also known as the "American Hippo bill", was a bill introduced by Representative Robert F. Broussard of Louisiana in 1910 to authorize the importation and release of hippopotamuses into the bayous of the state. [2] [3]
Broussard argued the hippopotamuses would eat the invasive water hyacinth that was clogging the rivers and also produce meat to help solve a meat shortage in the United States. [3] [4] The chief collaborators and proponents of Broussard's bill were Major Frederick Russell Burnham and Captain Fritz Duquesne. [5] [6] Former President Theodore Roosevelt backed the plan, as did the United States Department of Agriculture, The Washington Post , and The New York Times , which praised hippopotamus meat as "lake cow bacon". [7] [5] William Newton Irwin, a researcher for the United States Department of Agriculture recruited by Broussard, told Congress that the bill could add one million tons of meat to the yearly American supply, and further suggested that more exotic animals should be imported for the same purpose, including dik-diks, rhinoceroses, African buffalo, Tibetan yaks, and Manchurian pigs. [8] [9]
Although the "American Hippo Bill" developed a broad base of support, it was never passed by the US Congress. [3]
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle. Beef can be prepared in various ways; cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often ground or minced, as found in most hamburgers. Beef contains protein, iron, and vitamin B12. Along with other kinds of red meat, high consumption is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and coronary heart disease, especially when processed. Beef has a high environmental impact, being a primary driver of deforestation with the highest greenhouse gas emissions of any agricultural product.
The hippopotamus (; pl.: hippopotamuses; also shortened to hippo, further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus. Its name comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse".
The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has been extirpated from Nigeria.
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish, used as a central ingredient, or as a flavouring or accent. Regular bacon consumption is associated with increased mortality and other health concerns.
Lake Edward is one of the smaller African Great Lakes. It is located in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the equator.
The African buffalo is a large sub-Saharan African bovine. There are five subspecies that are recognized as valid by most authorities:
Major Frederick Russell Burnham DSO was an American scout and world-traveling adventurer. He is known for his service to the British South Africa Company and to the British Army in colonial Africa, and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell in Rhodesia. Burnham helped inspire the founding of the international Scouting Movement.
Aquatic mammals and semiaquatic mammals are a diverse group of mammals that dwell partly or entirely in bodies of water. They include the various marine mammals who dwell in oceans, as well as various freshwater species, such as the European otter. They are not a taxon and are not unified by any distinct biological grouping, but rather their dependence on and integral relation to aquatic ecosystems. The level of dependence on aquatic life varies greatly among species. Among freshwater taxa, the Amazonian manatee and river dolphins are completely aquatic and fully dependent on aquatic ecosystems. Semiaquatic freshwater taxa include the Baikal seal, which feeds underwater but rests, molts, and breeds on land; and the capybara and hippopotamus which are able to venture in and out of water in search of food.
Robert Foligny Broussard was both a U.S. representative and a U.S. senator from Louisiana. He was born on the Mary Louise plantation near New Iberia, the seat of Iberia Parish, to Jean Dorville Broussard, and his wife Anastasie Elizadie Gonsoulin Broussard.
Frederick "Fritz" Joubert Duquesne was a South African Boer and German soldier, big-game hunter, journalist, and spy. Many of the claims Duquesne made about himself are in dispute; over his lifetime he used multiple identities, reinvented his past at will, claimed family ties to aristocratic clans and famous people and even asserted the right to military titles and medals with no third-party verification.
Pontederia crassipes, commonly known as common water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range. It is the sole species of the subgenus Oshunae within the genus Pontederia. Anecdotally, it is known as the "terror of Bengal" due to its invasive growth tendencies.
Whippomorpha or Cetancodonta is a group of artiodactyls that contains all living cetaceans and the hippopotamids. All whippomorphs are descendants of the last common ancestor of Hippopotamus amphibius and Tursiops truncatus. This makes it a crown group. Whippomorpha is a suborder within the order Artiodactyla. The placement of Whippomorpha within Artiodactyla is a matter of some contention, as hippopotamuses were previously considered to be more closely related to Suidae (pigs) and Tayassuidae (peccaries). Most contemporary scientific phylogenetic and morphological research studies link hippopotamuses with cetaceans, and genetic evidence has overwhelmingly supported an evolutionary relationship between Hippopotamidae and Cetacea. Modern whippomorphs all share a number of behavioural and physiological traits; such as a dense layer of subcutaneous fat and largely hairless bodies. They exhibit amphibious and aquatic behaviors and possess similar auditory structures.
Several species of Malagasy hippopotamus lived on the island of Madagascar but are now believed to be extinct. The animals were very similar to the extant hippopotamus and pygmy hippopotamus. The fossil record suggests that at least one species of hippopotamus lived until about 1,000 years ago and other evidence suggests that the species may have survived until much more recently. The taxonomy of these animals is not resolved and not widely studied.
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig. It is the second-most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
This article traces the history of cuisine in Japan. Foods and food preparation by the early Japanese Neolithic settlements can be pieced together from archaeological studies, and reveals paramount importance of rice and seafood since early times.
Melanie Joy is an American social psychologist and author, primarily notable for coining and promulgating the term carnism. She is the founding president of nonprofit advocacy group Beyond Carnism, previously known as Carnism Awareness & Action Network (CAAN), as well as a former professor of psychology and sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has published the books Strategic Action for Animals, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows and Beyond Beliefs.
River of Teeth is a 2017 alternate history novella by Sarah Gailey, first published by Tor Books with cover art by Richard Anderson.
Grazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on low-growing plants such as grasses or other multicellular organisms, such as algae. Many species of animals can be said to be grazers, from large animals such as hippopotamuses to small aquatic snails. Grazing behaviour is a type of feeding strategy within the ecology of a species. Specific grazing strategies include graminivory ; coprophagy ; pseudoruminant ; and grazing on plants other than grass, such as on marine algae.
Hippopotamuses are an introduced species in Colombia. Four hippopotamuses were first kept by Pablo Escobar in his private zoo in the late 1970s, and upon his death in 1993, they were allowed to wander his unattended estate. The hippos eventually broke out of the estate and were left to roam the outside area, due to difficulty in containment. By 2019, their population had grown to approximately one hundred individuals, causing concerns about harming the native flora and fauna in the area, as well as posing a significant threat to the human population. They are often popularly referred to as "cocaine hippos".