Hippopotamus

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 heaviest 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 year syne. The common ancestor o whauls an hippos split frae ither even-toed ungulates aroond 60 million year syne. The earliest kent hippopotamus fossils, belangin tae the genus Kenyapotamus in Africae, date tae aroond 16 million year syne.

Common hippopotamus
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kinrick:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Cless:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Faimily:	Hippopotamidae
Genus:	Hippopotamus
Species:	H. amphibius
Binomial name
Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758
Range map of hippopotamus. Historic range is in red while current range is in green.