Hippopotamus gorgops

Hippopotamus gorgops is an extinct species of the genus Hippopotamus known from remains found in Northern Africa, Eastern Africa, and the Levant. One of the largest hippopotamus species, it first appeared during the Early Pleistocene, and became extinct during the early Middle Pleistocene.

Hippopotamus gorgops

Uncredited · 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
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 1 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 0 of 66 occurrencesPliocene — about 3 of 66 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 63 of 66 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 66 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.5–2.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 8 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 8 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.8 Mya774 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

66 occurrences of Hippopotamus gorgops on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. 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

66 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

10 formations

Koobi Fora — 4.26°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.29°N, 36.23°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 — 4.24°N, 36.28°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EOlorgesailie — 1.57°S, 36.44°ENachukui — 4.25°N, 35.79°ENachukui — 4.11°N, 35.73°ENachukui — 4.15°N, 35.74°ENachukui — 4.67°N, 35.75°ENachukui — 4.16°N, 35.79°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 35.37°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°ENyabusosi — 1.00°N, 30.50°EWehaietu — 10.63°N, 40.54°E1 — 11.06°N, 42.28°EOlorgasailie — 1.58°S, 36.41°E'Ubeidiya — 32.68°N, 35.57°E

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The named rock units Hippopotamus gorgops has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Hippopotamus gorgops and its relatives

Pleistocene

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

Found in the same rock

305 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 66 sites for Hippopotamus gorgops, 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

24 references

Each of the 66 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. 12 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 content2

Picture of Hippopotamus gorgops

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
hippohipo
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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. Dietrich 1928