Drivers were stunned when they spotted one of Pablo Escobar’s so-called cocaine hippos crossing the road.
The stocky mammal was spotted waddling leisurely across the single-carriageway at night.
Bikers stopped so it could safely reach the other side.
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It happened in Doradal near Puerto Triunfo, Colombia on Sunday (7 October).
The hippopotamus disappeared into an area of woodland beside the motorway between Medellín and Bogotá.
Hippos are a vulnerable species native to sub-Saharan Africa.
They are found in Colombia because drug lord Pablo Escobar brought them to the country in the 1980s.
He imported them as part of his dream to have a safari park on the grounds of his estate near Puerto Triunfo.
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They were called his cocaine hippos because he illegally brought them in while running his drug cartel.
When Escobar was killed in December 1993, they were left undisturbed and bred to the point where they threatened the local ecosystem.
The Colombian Ministry of Environment declared them an invasive species in March 2022, as reported by What’s The Jam.
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They are considered aggressive and are even known to have killed people who have come into close contact with them.
The regional environmental agency Cornare warns: “Hippopotamuses are very large, highly territorial animals with unpredictable behavior.
“And they are capable of causing fatal injuries.”
Despite efforts to control their numbers, there are believed to be about 169 feral hippos in Colombia as of 2024.
Local Jonathan said: “If only they knew how close the people filming were to death.
“Those animals kill more people than sharks do.”
Miguel joked: “More effective than any police checkpoint.”
And remarking on the state of the road, Camilo quipped: “If that’s a motorway, then that’s a big pig.”
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