Other US "Hippo Bills"

Then we have the things that do quite well by accident - Snakeheads (good eating my son has hooked a bunch of them) and Burmese Pythons.

I hope you ate them or at least disposed of them, damned things are invasive and are pushing out native species.
 
King Rama of Siam offered to ship elephants to the United States as a gift, to be used as beasts of burden. Although the letter was addressed to President James Buchanan, it arrived by the time Abraham Lincoln was President, who politely declined, noting that steam power was more effective than elephants in the American climate.

But what if Meade's First Pachyderme Division breaks the Confederate line at Gettysburg?
 
and besides, dodo meat apparently tasted terrible :p
An alternative name the Dutch gave was "Walgvogel" A literal translation is "Nausea Bird" The Dutch, who anchored at Mauritius, only ate them, because they were so easy to catch. They wouldn't survive in the American wild and were to disgusting for consumption. The Dodo was probably doomed from the beginning.
 
I hope you ate them or at least disposed of them, damned things are invasive and are pushing out native species.

Yeah, the Maryland DNR is very clear - if you catch a snakehead, you kill it. They actually grill up nicely and are not very messy (compared to say catfish) when you gut them.

We live to close to where it all started in 2002 when the first snakehead was caught.
 
An alternative name the Dutch gave was "Walgvogel" A literal translation is "Nausea Bird" The Dutch, who anchored at Mauritius, only ate them, because they were so easy to catch. They wouldn't survive in the American wild and were to disgusting for consumption. The Dodo was probably doomed from the beginning.
The shit you stumble across on this site...amazing!
 
and besides, dodo meat apparently tasted terrible :p
Dodo taste apparently depended upon the season. The usual time European sailors arrived they had been eating local oily nuts and tasted of them. In other seasons they had a more varied diet and (allgedly) tatsed fine.
 
True. But Roosevelt is something of an alt history Chuck Norris who cultivated a rootin tootin shootin persona. While his hunting and conservation efforts are historical he is clearly not going to be heading off into the wilds to personally kill off every invasive animal introduced to North America. (I do wonder what the period's thoughts on invasive species were?) (Double thought. Horses are an introduced feral species)

But I still maintain anything big is going to be hunted to at least manageable levels unless it can get in to some really inaccessible territory.
 
True. But Roosevelt is something of an alt history Chuck Norris who cultivated a rootin tootin shootin persona. While his hunting and conservation efforts are historical he is clearly not going to be heading off into the wilds to personally kill off every invasive animal introduced to North America. (I do wonder what the period's thoughts on invasive species were?) (Double thought. Horses are an introduced feral species)

But I still maintain anything big is going to be hunted to at least manageable levels unless it can get in to some really inaccessible territory.

I concur. Hunted, but at manageable levels. I fear that people would not realize the damage to the environment until invasive's would be very well established. I have to wonder if having one animal introduced wouldn't lead to more. Hippo's, then Camel's in the southwest, God only knows what else.
 
The obvious comparison is Australia. A couple of differences.
1. North America is already full of large placental mammals so it can wear them better. It more weeds, fish, insects, that kind of stuff. A rabbit is not likely to destroy your agriculture.
2. Population density. It is the only reason I can think of why camels didn't take off in the US. There was less manpower in Australia so more calling for specialist animals which can later go feral. (I still think that it is weird that there is no American cattle dog. Likewise you don't need camels when you can support horses.)
 
I concur. Hunted, but at manageable levels. I fear that people would not realize the damage to the environment until invasive's would be very well established. I have to wonder if having one animal introduced wouldn't lead to more. Hippo's, then Camel's in the southwest, God only knows what else.
Lincoln accepts the Siamese offer of elephants and uses them against the South. After the war, the elephants are released and become a figure in the south. Radical Republicans pass laws banning southerners from hunting elephants as elephants become a symbol of the Union Victory, and eventually the symbol of the Republican Party (imo a better reason than otl). That leaves Camels in the southwest, Elephants in the southeast and Hippos in Mississippi.
 
Lincoln accepts the Siamese offer of elephants and uses them against the South. After the war, the elephants are released and become a figure in the south. Radical Republicans pass laws banning southerners from hunting elephants as elephants become a symbol of the Union Victory, and eventually the symbol of the Republican Party (imo a better reason than otl). That leaves Camels in the southwest, Elephants in the southeast and Hippos in Mississippi.

I doubt there would be much hunting of the elephants. As work animals, they are capable of incredible feats of strength. I think that they will come to be seen as valuable for a lot of the heavy work in logging, of which there was an enormous amount post ACW.
 
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