1-797x638.jpg "Sicilian dwarf hippopotamus")
-797x638.jpg "Sicilian dwarf hippopotamus")
Sicilian dwarf hippopotamus
2029920299Sicilian dwarf hippopotamus (†Hippopotamus pentlandi (Von Meyer, 1832))
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Hippopotamidae
Time period: during the Pleistocene (Sicily)
Size: 250 cm in length, 130 cm in height, 1000 kg of weight
Hippopotamus pentlandi is an extinct hippopotamus from Sicily. It arrived during the Pleistocene, in the Messinian salinity crisis. It is the largest of the insular dwarf hippos known from the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean, weighing in at 1000 kg.
It is suggested that it arrived in Sicily between 250,000 and 150,000 years ago, probably descending from the modern hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). It was present in Sicily until at least the latest Middle Pleistocene around 120 kya, and was probably extinct ~71,000 years ago.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.
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Sicilian dwarf hippopotamus (†Hippopotamus pentlandi (Von Meyer, 1832))
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Hippopotamidae
Time period: during the Pleistocene (Sicily)
Size: 250 cm in length, 130 cm in height, 1000 kg of weight
Hippopotamus pentlandi is an extinct hippopotamus from Sicily. It arrived during the Pleistocene, in the Messinian salinity crisis. It is the largest of the insular dwarf hippos known from the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean, weighing in at 1000 kg.
It is suggested that it arrived in Sicily between 250,000 and 150,000 years ago, probably descending from the modern hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). It was present in Sicily until at least the latest Middle Pleistocene around 120 kya, and was probably extinct ~71,000 years ago.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.
