Hippopotamus gorgops

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Hippopotamus gorgops
Temporal range: Late Pliocene–Middle Pleistocene
↓
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Hippopotamidae
Genus: Hippopotamus
Species:
†H. gorgops
Binomial name
†Hippopotamus gorgops
Dietrich, 1928

Hippopotamus gorgops is an

Middle Pleistocene.[1]

Taxonomy

The species was described by German scientist Wilhelm Otto Dietrich in 1928.[2] It is closely related and possibly ancestral to the European species Hippopotamus antiquus.[3]

Distribution

Hippopotamus gorgops is known from remains found across Northern and Eastern Africa, spanning from the

Middle Pleistocene.[1] The species, along with other hippopotamids, was abundant at Buia in present-day Eritrea.[4] Remains assigned to H. gorgops alongside the species H. behemoth are known from the Ubeidiya locality in Israel, dating to approximately 1.6 million years ago, with some authors suggesting that H. behemoth is actually a synonym of H. gorgops, given their similar morphology.[5][6]

Description

Life restoration
showing the raised eye sockets

H. gorgops grew substantially larger than the living

nuchal and sagittal crests were also proportionally taller, and the palate was elongate.[9] In life H. gorgops would have likely greatly resembled H. amphibius.[1]

Ecology

Isotopic analysis of specimens from the

C4 plants.[10] For specimens from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, dental microwear suggests a mixed feeding diet (including both browse and grass), while mesowear suggests a largely grazing diet.[11] The elevated orbits have led to suggestions of a more aquatic lifestyle than H. amphibius,[12] though its robust limbs indicate that it was probably capable of moving efficiently on land, like H. amphibius.[9]

Relationship with humans

Remains with cut or fracture marks from sites across Africa from the Early Pleistocene indicate that H. gorgops was butchered by archaic humans.[13][14][15] These include El-Kherba in Algeria, dating to around 1.8 million years ago (mya),[15] Kilombe caldera in Kenya, dating to around 1.76 mya,[14] and the Buia site in Eritrea dating to the late Early Pleistocene,[13] around 1 mya.[9] Often at these sites tools from the Oldowan industry are present.[14][15] At Kilombe and Buia, it is unclear whether the hippos were hunted or scavenged.[13][14] It is unlikely that healthy adult individuals were hunted, as with living hippopotamuses, they were likely dangerous.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e van der Made J, Sahnouni M & Boulaghraief K. 2017. Hippopotamus gorgops from El Kherba (Algeria) and the context of its biogeography. In Proceedings of the II Meeting of African Prehistory: Burgos 15-16 April, 2015, Sahnouni M, Semaw S, Rios Garaizar J (eds). CENIEH: Burgos; 135–169.
  2. ^ Dietrich, W. O. (1928). Pleistocäne Deutsch–Ostafrikanische Hippopotamus–reste. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse des Oldoway Expedetion Herausgeben Von Prof. Dr. Reck, 3: 3–41.
  3. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2022.12.010
    .
  4. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108039
    . Retrieved 24 April 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
  5. ^ TCHERNOV, E (1986). "Les mammifères du Pleistocène inférieur de la vallée du Jourdain à Oubeidiyeh". Israel J. Earth Sci. 36: 3–36.
  6. ^ Martínez-Navarro, B (2010). "The fossil Bovidae (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: Out of Africa during the early-middle Pleistocene transition" (PDF). J. Hum. Evol. 60: 375–386 – via Research Gate.
  7. ^ Chaix L, Faure M, Guérin C, Honegger M. Kaddanarti, a Lower Pleistocene Assemblage from Northern Sudan. In: Krzyżaniak L, Kroeper K, Kobusiewicz M, editors. Recent Research into the Stone Age of Northeastern Africa. Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum; 2000. p. 33–46.
  8. PMID 34100541
    .
  9. ^
    ISSN 1777-571X
    .
  10. ISSN 0952-8369
    .
  11. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.01.002
    .
  12. doi:10.13130/2039-4942/12730
    .
  13. ^ a b c Fiore, I., Bondolli, L., Coppa, A., Macchiarelli, R., Russom, R., Kashay, H., Solomon, T., Rook, L., Libsekal, Y., 2004. Taphonomic analysis of the late early Pleistocene bone remains from Buia (Dandero Basin, Danakil Depression, Eritrea): evidence for large mammal and reptile butchery. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 110, 89e97.
  14. ^
    doi:10.1016/j.anthro.2021.102976
    .
  15. ^
    doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.10.007
    .


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