Hippopotamus amphibius

The hippopotamus, often shortened to hippo, further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος).

Hippopotamus amphibius

Muhammad Mahdi Karim · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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
hippoPBDB
Sits inside
HippopotamusPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Hippopotamidae
Life habit
amphibiousPBDB, for Hippopotamus
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 174 occurrencesPliocene — about 4 of 174 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 155 of 174 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 15 of 174 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 8 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 7 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 7 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 7 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 71 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

174 occurrences of Hippopotamus amphibius 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

174 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

14 formations

Gabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EShungura — 5.14°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.04°N, 36.00°EShungura — 5.09°N, 36.06°EChemoigut — 0.65°N, 36.20°EPlatanochori — 40.57°N, 23.47°EPlatanochori — 40.53°N, 23.37°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°EMbuga Clays — 3.98°S, 33.93°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ELusso Beds — 0.03°N, 29.62°E2 — 11.06°N, 42.28°ENachukui — 4.21°N, 35.78°ERietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°E

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The named rock units Hippopotamus amphibius has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 136 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hippopotamus amphibius and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Hippopotamus amphibius and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

783 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 173 sites for Hippopotamus amphibius, and this reads all 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

70 references

Each of the 174 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. 58 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 Hippopotamus amphibius

Credit
Muhammad Mahdi Karim
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
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
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itHippopotamus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)