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Hippos In Stockton?
Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2015 8:30 pm
by hobie16
Exotic animals deployed as Delta ‘weed whackers’
by UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences
Visitors to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are doing double takes lately as they encounter some newly introduced “biological controls” to keep a fast-spreading waterweed from damaging boat propellers and choking off waterways.
Working with state water officials, UC Davis scientists last month released a herd or “bloat” of hippopotamuses from Botswana to chow down on vast mats of water hyacinth that also threaten to clog the intake to the California Aqueduct near Stockton.
The menagerie of radio-tagged herbivores is part of a yearlong experiment in more natural and, some say, more effective, controls for curbing the menacing growth of non-native aquatic weeds in the Delta.
Enlisting hippos in the biowarfare is the brainchild of Robert Broussard, a professor with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences who has long touted biological controls as a cost-effective way to keep the growth of hyacinth in check.
Full article
Re: Hippos In Stockton?
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:57 am
by YANXWIN
Since I'm too lazy to read the full article, I'm just guessing that they have estimated the rate of growth of the weeds and the eating capacity of the hippos to know if it will be effective in a reduction of overall growth. Pretty fascinating to use nature to control nature.
Re: Hippos In Stockton?
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:57 am
by drcorey
sheep would have worked too.
but they cant swim very well.
Re: Hippos In Stockton?
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:11 pm
by DisneyMom
Love It but I have had a number of Jungle Cruise Captains tell me that they are especially dangerous when they wiggle their ears!
I love that they are using Capybaras as well and there is even a Disney Reference in the full article!
Re: Hippos In Stockton?
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 10:26 pm
by hobie16
It's nice to see PT-73 repurposed.
Re: Hippos In Stockton?
Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2015 3:44 am
by albino_pygmy
DisneyMom wrote:Love It but I have had a number of Jungle Cruise Captains tell me that they are especially dangerous when they wiggle their ears!
We prefered to be called Skippers mainly for one reason: In the event of an emergency, the captain must go down with the ship. Skippers merely skip away at the nearest sight of danger, every man for themselves!
You also have to watch out for those anti-aircraft hippos, you know, the ones that hide in the trees.