Hippopotamidae

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 formally referred to as hippopotamids.

Hippopotamidae

Paul Maritz · 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

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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 content1

Picture of Hippopotamidae

Credit
Paul Maritz
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Hippopotamidae was found in Sketchfab.

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 itHippopotamoidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

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