![]() ![]() A result of this confusion is that the literature currently features both names for this animal. ![]() Boisserie & White (2004) actually found the Pygmy hippo to be part of a lineage that forms the sister-group to the rest of Hippopotamidae, in which case a unique generic moniker is appropriate. The problem is that Hexaprotodon as traditionally conceived seems to be a paraphyletic mess (Coryndon 1977a, b, Weston 2000, Boisserie & White 2004), and the lineage that includes the Pygmy hippo may not, after all, be all that close to the lineage that includes the type species of Hexaprotodon. During the 1970s it was noticed how similar this animal is to the fossil hippos included in Hexaprotodon (Coryndon 1977a, b) and the view that the species is merely a surviving member of the Hexaprotodon radiation more or less became mainstream during the 1990s. * The Pygmy hippo was only discovered in 1849 and was initially (in 1852) deemed unique enough for its own genus, Choeropsis. In this article I aim to give a brief, succinct overview of hippo history. ![]() ![]() As usual, the fossil record reveals a far greater number of species that were distributed over a far larger area than that associated with hippos today. Hippos are represented today by just two species: the large, strongly amphibious Hippopotamus amphibius and the smaller, more terrestrial Pygmy hippo Hexaprotodon liberiensis*. The two living hippos, both in captivity. ![]()
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