| Hippopotamus antiquus Temporal range: Early Pleistocene-Middle Pleistocene | |
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| Hippopotamus antiquus in Florence Palaeontology museum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Hippopotamidae |
| Genus: | Hippopotamus |
| Species: | †H. antiquus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Hippopotamus antiquus | |
| Synonyms | |
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Hippopotamus antiquus is an extinct species of Hippopotamus that ranged across Europe during the Early and Middle Pleistocene.
H. antiquus is suggested to be closely related to the African species Hippopotamus gorgops , and may be a descendant of that species. [2] The oldest records of H. antiquus date to the Early Pleistocene, around 2.1-2 million years ago, which are found in Italy and Greece. [3] The earliest specimens in the Iberian Peninsula date to around 1.7 million years ago. [4] H. antiquus first became widespread north of the Alps around 1.1 to 1 million years ago, as evidenced from specimens found dating to this time in France, Germany, the Netherlands and southern Britain. [5] The youngest remains of the species are from Condeixa in Portugal, suggested to date to approximately 400,000 years ago, [2] and Malagrotta in central Italy, dating to 450-380,000 years ago. [6] Later records of the genus Hippopotamus in Europe are believed to belong to the modern hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). [5] The earliest generally accepted record of H. amphibius in Europe is around 500,000 years old, and it is therefore possible that H. antiquus and H. amphibius coexisted in Europe from 500-400,000 years ago, though this is uncertain. [7] [8]
H. antiquus ranged across Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula and the Italian Peninsula, to the British Isles to the Rhine River to Greece. [9] [10] The easternmost record of the species is from the Caucasus, at the Akhalkalaki site in Georgia. [7] Remains possibly attributable to the species are also known from the Ubeidiya site in Israel, [2] though other authors assign these remains to the species H. behemoth . [7] Their distribution was strongly controlled by temperature, with the species only extending to the northern parts of Europe during warmer interglacial intervals. [5]
Based on the transverse diameter of its limbs, H. antiquus has been estimated to weigh 3,500–4,200 kilograms (7,700–9,300 lb), more than double the weight of the average specimen of H. amphibius. [11] In comparison to modern Hippopotamus amphibius, the skull is more slender and elongate, but with a shorter neurocranium. [12] Hippopotamus antiquus has been suggested to have been more aquatically adapted than Hippopotamus amphibius, with the skull having more elevated eyesockets and the feet having shorter metapodial bones than H. amphibius. An analysis of nitrogen isotopes suggests that H. antiquus preferred aquatic plants, in contrast to modern H. amphibius, which prefers terrestrial grasses. [5] [13]
The Cretan dwarf hippopotamus (H. creutzburgi) is believed to have evolved from H. antiquus through the process of insular dwarfism on the island of Crete. [14] The extinct Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus (H. minor) may also derive from H. antiquus, but this is uncertain. [15]
Remains of the species with cut marks suggestive of butchery by archaic humans have been reported from several sites in Spain, dating to the late Early Pleistocene, including Barranco León (~1.4 Ma), Fuente Nueva 3 (~1.3 Ma), and Vallparadís (~1.0 Ma), At the Marathousa 2 site in Greece, thought to date to the Middle Pleistocene around 500-400,000 years ago, remains of a juvenile Hippopotamus antiquus individual with cut marks were found associated with a lithic artefact. It is unclear whether the remains at these sites were hunted or scavenged. It is unlikely that archaic humans regularly hunted healthy adult hippopotamuses due to their dangerousness. [16]
The hippopotamus, also shortened to hippo, further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus, or 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).
Hippopotamidae is a family of stout, naked-skinned, and semiaquatic artiodactyl mammals, possessing three-chambered stomachs and walking on four toes on each foot. While they resemble pigs physiologically, their closest living relatives are the cetaceans. They are sometimes referred to as hippopotamids.
Palaeoloxodon is an extinct genus of elephant. The genus originated in Africa during the Early Pleistocene, and expanded into Eurasia at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. The genus contains some of the largest known species of elephants, over 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the shoulders, including the African Palaeoloxodon recki, the European straight-tusked elephant and the South Asian Palaeoloxodon namadicus. P. namadicus has been suggested to be the largest known land mammal by some authors based on extrapolation from fragmentary remains, though these estimates are highly speculative. In contrast, the genus also contains many species of dwarf elephants that evolved via insular dwarfism on islands in the Mediterranean, some only 1 metre (3.3 ft) in height, making them the smallest elephants known. The genus has a long and complex taxonomic history, and at various times, it has been considered to belong to Loxodonta or Elephas, but today is usually considered a valid and separate genus in its own right.
The steppe bison or steppe wisent is an extinct species of bison. It was widely distributed across the mammoth steppe, ranging from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America during the Late Pleistocene. It is ancestral to all North American bison, including ultimately modern American bison. Three chronological subspecies, Bison priscus priscus, Bison priscus mediator, and Bison priscus gigas, have been suggested.
The straight-tusked elephant is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited Europe and Western Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. It was larger than any living elephant, with adult males suggested to reach 3.81–4.2 metres (12.5–13.8 ft) in shoulder height, and 11.3–15 tonnes in weight. Like modern elephants, the straight-tusked elephant lived in herds, flourishing during interglacial periods, when its range would extend as far north as Great Britain. Skeletons found in association with stone tools and wooden spears suggest they were scavenged and hunted by early humans, including Neanderthals. It is the ancestral species of most dwarf elephants that inhabited islands in the Mediterranean.
Mammuthus meridionalis, sometimes called the southern mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth native to Eurasia, including Europe, during the Early Pleistocene, living from around 2.5 million years ago to 800,000 years ago.
Hippopotamus gorgops is an extinct species of Hippopotamus known from remains found in Northern and Eastern Africa as well as the Levant. It first appeared during the late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene, and became extinct during the early Middle Pleistocene.
Hexaprotodon is an extinct genus of hippopotamid known from Asia and possibly Africa and Europe. The name Hexaprotodon means "six front teeth" as some of the fossil forms have three pairs of incisors.
The Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus or Cypriot pygmy hippopotamus is an extinct species of hippopotamus that inhabited the island of Cyprus from the Pleistocene until the early Holocene. The 200-kilogram (440 lb) Cyprus dwarf hippo was roughly the same size as the extant pygmy hippopotamus. Unlike the modern pygmy hippo, the Cyprus dwarf became small through the process of insular dwarfism. H. minor is the smallest hippopotamus of all known insular hippopotamuses. It is estimated to have measured 76 cm (2.5 ft) tall and 121 cm (4.0 ft) long.
Hippopotamus melitensis is an extinct hippopotamus from Malta. It lived during Middle-Late Pleistocene. It probably descended from Hippopotamus pentlandi from Sicily, which in turn probably descended from the common hippopotamus. Like Hippopotamus pentlandi, Hippopotamus melitensis is substantially smaller in size than H. amphibius as a result of insular dwarfism, having an estimated mass of approximately 900 kg, which is smaller than the 1100 kg estimated for H. pentlandi. The diet of H. melitensis is suggested to have been more generalist than Hippopotamus amphibius, likely as a result of limited resource diversity and lack of competition, as the only other large herbivore on the island was the dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis. The majority of findings of this species are from Għar Dalam, a cave on Malta famous for its Pleistocene fossil deposits.
Hippopotamus pentlandi is an extinct species of hippopotamus from Sicily, known from the late Middle Pleistocene to early Late Pleistocene. It is the largest of the insular dwarf hippos known from the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean, "at most 20% smaller than the mainland forms", with an estimated body mass of approximately 1100 kg. It is suggested that it arrived in Sicily between 250,000 and 150,000 years ago, probably descending from the modern hippopotamus, with an origin from Hippopotamus antiquus being less likely. In comparison to those species, the muzzle was shorter, the occipital and nasal regions were more developed, the mastoid process was enlarged, and the dental row was shortened, and the condyle of the mandible is low. In comparison to H. amphibius, the orbits are also elevated. It was present in Sicily until at least the latest Middle Pleistocene around 120 kya, and was probably extinct by the beginning of Marine Isotope Stage 4. Contemporaneous species include the dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis, the aurochs, red deer, steppe bison, fallow deer, wild boar, brown bear, wolves, red foxes, cave hyena and cave lions. Its diet was likely grazing dominated, similar to that of modern H. amphibius. It is probably ancestral to Hippopotamus melitensis from Malta, which is substantially smaller than H. pentlandi.
Palaeoloxodon cypriotes is an extinct species of dwarf elephant that inhabited the island of Cyprus during the Late Pleistocene. Remains comprise 44 molars, found in the north of the island, seven molars discovered in the south-east, a single measurable femur and a single tusk among very sparse additional bone and tusk fragments. The molars support derivation from the large straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus). The species is presumably derived from the older, larger P. xylophagou from the late Middle Pleistocene which reached the island presumably during a Pleistocene glacial maximum when low sea levels allowed a low probability sea crossing between Cyprus and Asia Minor. During subsequent periods of isolation the population adapted within the evolutionary mechanisms of insular dwarfism, which the available sequence of molar fossils confirms to a certain extent. The fully developed Palaeoloxodon cypriotes weighed not more than 200 kg (440 lb) and had a height of around 1 m (3.28 ft). The species became extinct around 12,000 years ago, around the time humans first colonised Cyprus.
Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis is an extinct species of dwarf elephant belonging to the genus Palaeoloxodon, native to the Siculo-Maltese archipelago during the late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene. It is derived from the European mainland straight-tusked elephant.
Stephanorhinus is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of Stephanorhinus were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in much of temperate Eurasia, especially Europe, for most of the Pleistocene. The last two species of Stephanorhinus – Merck's rhinoceros and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros – went extinct during the last glacial period.
Hipparionini is a tribe of three-toed horses in the subfamily Equinae. They had body forms similar to modern equines, with high-crowned teeth. They first appeared in North America during the Early Miocene around 17 million years ago, before migrating into the Old World around 11.4-11 million years ago. The youngest species date to the Early Pleistocene.
The narrow-nosed rhinoceros, also known as the steppe rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus that lived in western Eurasia, including Europe, as well as North Africa during the Pleistocene. It first appeared in Europe some 600,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene and survived there until as recently as 40,000 years before present.
Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, also known as Merck's rhinoceros or the forest rhinoceros, is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus from the Middle to Late Pleistocene of Eurasia. Its range spanned from western Europe to eastern Asia. Among the last members of the genus, it co-existed alongside Stephanorhinus hemitoechus in the western part of its range.
Bubalus murrensis, also known as European water buffalo, is an extinct buffalo species native to Europe during the Pleistocene epoch.
The cave lynx or Mediterranean cave lynx is an extinct felid species that lived during the Pleistocene. It is controversially discussed to be a subspecies of the modern Iberian lynx and to be a junior synonym of this species.
Hippopotamus behemoth is an extinct species of hippopotamus from the Early Pleistocene of the Levant. Fossils of it, and its probable ancestor, H. gorgops, are found in the ‘Ubeidiya site in the southern Levant, dating to the Early Pleistocene, around 1.4 million years ago.
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