Hippopotamidae

Searched as Hippopotamus. The Paleobiology Database treats Hippopotamidae as the accepted name.

Hippopotamus, meaning "river horse" in Ancient Greek, is a genus of artiodactyl mammals consisting of one extant species, Hippopotamus amphibius, the river hippopotamus, and several extinct species from both recent and prehistoric times. It belongs to the family Hippopotamidae, which also includes the pygmy hippopotamus and a number of extinct genera.

Hippopotamidae

P. Brundel · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
hippopotamusPBDB
Sits inside
HippopotamoideaPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 706 occurrencesMiocene — about 58 of 706 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 110 of 706 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 516 of 706 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 2 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 5 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 5 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 8 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 20 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 24 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 36 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 80 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 160 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 141 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 188 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

706 occurrences of Hippopotamidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

706 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

81 formations

Koobi Fora — 3.75°N, 36.36°EKoobi Fora — 3.73°N, 36.43°EKoobi Fora — 3.70°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 4.09°N, 36.31°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°EKoobi Fora — 3.78°N, 36.33°EKoobi Fora — 4.24°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 3.90°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.86°N, 36.26°EKoobi Fora — 4.07°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 3.87°N, 36.37°EKoobi Fora — 4.28°N, 36.38°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EKoobi Fora — 4.10°N, 36.46°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.15°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.05°N, 36.01°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 3.08°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 3.87°N, 35.72°ENachukui — 3.93°N, 35.76°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.11°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.23°N, 35.81°ENachukui — 4.67°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.43°N, 35.83°ENachukui — 4.53°N, 35.92°ENachukui — 3.68°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.10°N, 35.77°ENachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.43°EWembere-Manonga — 3.88°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 3.92°S, 33.82°EWembere-Manonga — 3.92°S, 33.87°EWembere-Manonga — 3.09°S, 33.73°EWembere-Manonga — 4.03°S, 33.77°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.35°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.42°N, 1.72°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.93°N, 1.30°EGabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°ESagantole — 10.48°N, 40.60°ESagantole — 10.62°N, 40.58°ESagantole — 10.45°N, 40.45°ESagantole — 10.47°N, 40.50°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.88°N, 36.07°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°EGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°EHadar — 11.14°N, 40.58°EMatabaietu — 10.30°N, 40.25°EMatabaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°EMatabaietu — 10.55°N, 40.58°EMatabaietu — 10.51°N, 40.58°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°EAdu-Asa — 10.37°N, 40.23°EAdu-Asa — 10.43°N, 40.42°EChorora — 10.67°N, 40.50°EChorora — 8.87°N, 40.30°EWehaietu — 10.72°N, 40.50°EWehaietu — 10.32°N, 40.55°EWehaietu — 10.57°N, 40.58°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENkondo — 1.50°N, 31.00°E'Ubeidiya — 32.68°N, 35.57°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ELukeino — 0.50°N, 35.67°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Hippopotamidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 57 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 276 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hippopotamidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hippopotamidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

925 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 592 sites for Hippopotamidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

253 references

Each of the 706 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 241 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Hippopotamidae

Credit
P. Brundel
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Hippopotamus amphibius · DMNS:Mamm:DMNS:Mamm:14995

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHippopotamoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Gray 1821