Last week we thought about Cecil the lion. But Americans have long been infatuated with conquering African wildlife. As the country was coming to grips with its meteoric growth, a pair of charismatic dreamers devise an insane plan, endorsed by Theodore Roosevelt, to import hippos to Louisiana — for meat. Lake cows, they call them. You can read the story about this forgotten American episode, but I have greatly enjoyed listening to it — The Atavist is telling the story in a three-part podcast.