Colombia has a problem with hippopotamuses. Four of the non-native animals were brought into the country in the 1970s by the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. They eventually broke free of their less-than-sufficient enclosure in a private zoo at Escobar’s estate, roamed the countryside, and became a nuisance. The burgeoning population of these so-called “cocaine hippos”—now nearing 200—is beginning to get out of hand, posing a real danger to the Colombian ecosystem and people. Hippos are the deadliest large land mammal on the planet, killing roughly 500 people per year. Lions, by contrast, are responsible for 100 to 250 deaths per year.
But the story of problems with a private zoo of hippopotamuses is not just a modern one. Around 3,600 years ago, a similar hippopotamus zoo-related problem purportedly occurred—in ancient Egypt. This story may even have a connection to the Exodus account and an event that may have been the straw that broke the camel’s—or hippo’s—back in the relationship between the Egyptians and the Israelites. | 
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