Editing Hippopotamus (section)

===Extinct species===
Three species of [[Malagasy hippopotamus]] became extinct during the [[Holocene]] on [[Madagascar]], the last of them within the past 1,000 years. The Malagasy hippos were smaller than the modern hippo, a likely result of the process of [[insular dwarfism]].<ref name=Stuenes>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1080/02724634.1989.10011761 |author=Stuenes, S. |year=1989 |title=Taxonomy, habits and relationships of the sub-fossil Madagascan hippopotamuses ''Hippopotamus lemerlei'' and ''H. madagascariensis'' |journal=[[Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology]] |volume=9 |pages=241–268 |issue=3}}</ref> Fossil evidence indicates many Malagasy hippos were hunted by humans, a factor in their eventual extinction.<ref name=Stuenes/> Isolated individual Malagasy hippos may have survived in remote pockets; in 1976, villagers described a living animal called the ''kilopilopitsofy'', which may have been a Malagasy hippo.<ref name=Kidoky>{{Cite journal |title=The Kilopilopitsofy, Kidoky, and Bokyboky: Accounts of Strange Animals from Belo-sur-mer, Madagascar, and the Megafaunal "Extinction Window" |journal=[[American Anthropologist]] |year=1998 |author=Burney, D. A. |jstor=681820 |volume=100 |issue=4 |pages=957–966 |author2=Ramilisonina |doi=10.1525/aa.1998.100.4.957}}</ref>

''[[Hippopotamus gorgops]]'' from the Early Pleistocene to the early Middle Pleistocene of Africa and West Asia grew considerably larger than the living hippopotamus, with an estimated body mass of over {{Cvt|4000|kg}}.<ref name=VanDerMadeEtAl2017>van der Made J, Sahnouni M & Boulaghraief K. 2017. [https://www.mncn.csic.es/sites/default/files/inline-files/2017%20Van%20der%20Made%20ea%20-%20Hippopotamus%20-%20El%20Kherba%20-%20ProcIIMeetingAfrPrehist.pdf ''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.</ref><ref>Chaix L, Faure M, Guérin C, Honegger M. [https://kerma.ch/documents/Publications_PDF/Chaix_Faure_Guerin_Honegger_Kaddanarti_2000.pdf 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.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hutchinson |first=J. R. |date=2021 |title=The evolutionary biomechanics of locomotor function in giant land animals |journal=Journal of Experimental Biology |volume=224 |issue=11 |doi=10.1242/jeb.217463 |issn=0022-0949 |pmc=8214834 |pmid=34100541|bibcode=2021JExpB.224B7463H }}</ref> ''[[Hippopotamus antiquus]]'' ranged throughout Europe, extending as far north as Britain during the [[Early Pleistocene|Early]] and [[Middle Pleistocene]] epochs, before being replaced by the modern ''H. amphibius'' in Europe during the latter part of the Middle Pleistocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Adams|first1=N. F. |last2=Candy |first2=I. |last3=Schreve |first3=D. C.|title=An Early Pleistocene hippopotamus from Westbury Cave, Somerset, England: support for a previously unrecognized temperate interval in the British Quaternary record |journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |year=2022 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=28–41 |doi=10.1002/jqs.3375 |bibcode=2022JQS....37...28A |s2cid=244179438 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The Pleistocene also saw a number of dwarf species evolve on several Mediterranean islands, including [[Crete]] (''[[Hippopotamus creutzburgi]]''), [[Cyprus]] (the [[Cyprus dwarf hippopotamus]], ''Hippopotamus minor''), [[Malta]] (''[[Hippopotamus melitensis]]''), and [[Sicily]] (''[[Hippopotamus pentlandi]]''). Of these, the Cyprus dwarf hippo survived until the end of the Pleistocene or early Holocene. Evidence from the archaeological site [[Aetokremnos]] continues to cause debate on whether or not the species was driven to extinction or even encountered by humans.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Simmons, A. |year=2000 |title=Faunal extinction in an island society: pygmy hippopotamus hunters of Cyprus |journal=[[Geoarchaeology]] |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=379–381 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6548(200004)15:4<379::AID-GEA7>3.0.CO;2-E |bibcode=2000Gearc..15..379G}}</ref><ref name="Taxonomy of Pleistocene">{{cite journal |author=Petronio, C. |year=1995 |title=Note on the taxonomy of Pleistocene hippopotamuses |journal=Ibex |volume=3 |pages=53–55  |url=http://www.mountainecology.org/IBEX3/pdf/Art_Capitolo1/note_taxonomy_pleistocene.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080912012236/http://www.mountainecology.org/IBEX3/pdf/Art_Capitolo1/note_taxonomy_pleistocene.pdf|archive-date=12 September 2008}}</ref>