''Hippopotamus madagascariensis'', the Madagascar or Madagascan dwarf hippopotamus, is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
species of
hippopotamus
The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...
,
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the island of Madagascar. Known only from bones, it is believed to have gone extinct sometime after 1500. It was one of three hippopotamus species, the
Malagasy hippopotamuses, which were native to Madagascar and are all extinct.
Taxonomy
Malagasy hippopotamuses were first discovered in the mid-19th century by
Alfred Grandidier
Alfred Grandidier (20 December 1836 – 13 September 1921) was a French naturalist and explorer.
From a very wealthy family, at the age of 20, he and his brother, Ernest Grandidier (1833–1912), undertook a voyage around the world. At first ...
, who unearthed nearly 50 individual hippos from a dried-up swamp at
Ambolisaka near
Lake Ihotry
Lake Ihotry is the second largest lake of Madagascar. It is a closed saline lake in semi-arid southwestern part of Madagascar in the region of Atsimo-Andrefana. Its area varies seasonally, from 96 km2 to 112 km2.
Roads
It can be reache ...
,
a few miles from the
Mozambique Channel
The Mozambique Channel (french: Canal du Mozambique, mg, Lakandranon'i Mozambika, pt, Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long ...
. In 1989, Scandinavian palaeontologist Solweig Stuenes described ''H. madagascariensis'' and ''
H. lemerlei'' from these bones.
[
]
Description
Like the modern pygmy hippopotamus
The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo (''Choeropsis liberiensis'') is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has bee ...
(''Choeropsis liberiensis''), the Malagasy pygmy hippo had eyes on the side of its head rather than high orbits and teeth of the common hippopotamus. The Malagasy pygmy hippo was similarly less aquatic, with many of its fossils found in the forested highlands of Madagascar. These similarities may be due to convergent evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...
.cursorial
A cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. cheetah) or if it can keep a constant speed for a long distance (high endurance). "Cursorial" is often u ...
adaptation, distinct from the hippos on the African continent, and they would have been much better runners.
Extinction
Although there have been no remains dating to within the last thousand years, the hippopotamus has been surprisingly common in Malagasy oral legends. In different regions of Madagascar, stories were recorded of the , the , the , and the , all animals that resembled hippopotamuses.International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
(IUCN) to classify ''H. madagascarensis'' as recently extinct (going extinct some time after the year 1500).[
]
See also
*'' Hippopotamus lemerlei''
*''Hippopotamus laloumena
''Hippopotamus laloumena'' is an extinct species of hippopotamus from Pleistocene and Holocene Madagascar, making it the oldest of Malagasy hippopotamus. ''H. laloumena'' was much larger than other Malagasy hippopotamus, but was still somewhat s ...
''
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1966938
Extinct hippopotamuses
Extinct animals of Madagascar
Holocene extinctions
Mammals described in 1989
Mammal extinctions since 1500