Page 63 - All About History - Issue 56-17

What if…
THE US HAD STARTED EATING HIPPOS?

SARAH GAILEY
Sarah
Gailey is an
internationally
published author
of fiction and
non-fiction, a
Hugo and Campbell award
finalist and a contributor for
Tor.com and Barnes & Noble.
Her first novella, River of
Teeth, imagines a world where
hippo ranching in Louisiana
did happen.

l The agricultural depression l The Dust Bowl l Government intervention l Antibiotics embraced l Factory farming
The value of produce begins Several years of aggressive The Agricultural Adjustment The marvel of antibiotics also Keeping livestock in pens —
to fall as Europe starts to feed wheat farming cause the Great Act sets limits on the size revolutionises farming, offering rather than ranging freely over
itself again, leaving US farmers Plains lose their drought- of the crops and herds that a cheap method to accelerate grasslands — to both maximise
who bought extra acreage in the resistant grasses and fertile American farmers can produce livestock growth and bring space and fatten up animals
boom years unable to pay their topsoil — an environmental in return for paying them a them up to market weight faster is widely adopted across
mortgages. 1921 catastrophe. 1932 subsidy. 1933 faster. 1950s the country. 1970s

l Greater diversification l ‘Hippo meat for the fleet’ l Market crash l Selective breeding
After the success in Louisiana, With war-torn Europe unable Just like other farmers, hippo After generations of breeding them
ranches begin to spread across to produce its own food, ranchers are affected by the post- for meat, American hippos start to
to Florida. More varied African American produce is in high war period’s plummeting food look increasingly different to their
species are imported to test demand, which encourages prices and they struggle to pay off African cousins — they are larger
America’s appetite, including big many to risk hippo and the high loans used to buy their in size but have a more placid
game for hunting. 1913 ostrich ranching. 1915 exotic animals. 1921 temperament. 1950s

l Proof of concept l War breaks out l Hippo attack l Changed ecology
The first imported hippos are With fighting in Africa and An inexperienced rancher Decades of African
ranched in the Louisiana Bayous. U-boats skulking in the Atlantic looking to get rich quick animals thriving in
As hoped, they eat the weeds that Ocean, the importation of exotic during the economic boom the US has a knock-
are blocking the waterways, species is becoming increasingly accidentally invades a male on effect for native
guaranteeing Robert F Broussard’s difficult, so America breeds its hippo’s territory and is fatally American species and
re-election to Congress. 1912 own hippos. 1914 mauled. 1918 plant life. 1970s
63