The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, is a lairge, maistly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africae, an ane o anerly twa extant species in the faimily Hippopotamidae, the ither bein the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis). The name comes frae the auncient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος). Efter the elephant an rhinoceros, the common hippopotamus is the third-lairgest teep o laund mammal an the hiviest extant artiodactyl. Despite thair pheesical resemblance tae pigs an ither terrestrial even-toed ungulates, the closest livin relatives o the Hippopotamidae are cetaceans (whauls, porpoises, etc.) frae which thay divergit aboot 55 million years ago. The common ancestor o whauls an hippos split frae ither even-toed ungulates aroond 60 million years ago. The earliest kent hippopotamus fossils, belangin tae the genus Kenyapotamus in Africae, date tae aroond 16 million years ago.
|deadurl= (help) The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, is a lairge, maistly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africae, an ane o anerly twa extant species in the faimily Hippopotamidae, the ither bein the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis). The name comes frae the auncient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος). Efter the elephant an rhinoceros, the common hippopotamus is the third-lairgest teep o laund mammal an the hiviest extant artiodactyl. Despite thair pheesical resemblance tae pigs an ither terrestrial even-toed ungulates, the closest livin relatives o the Hippopotamidae are cetaceans (whauls, porpoises, etc.) frae which thay divergit aboot 55 million years ago. The common ancestor o whauls an hippos split frae ither even-toed ungulates aroond 60 million years ago. The earliest kent hippopotamus fossils, belangin tae the genus Kenyapotamus in Africae, date tae aroond 16 million years ago.
