Hippopotamus antiquus
| Hippopotamus antiquus Temporal range: Early Pleistocene-Middle Pleistocene
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|---|---|
| Hippopotamus antiquus in Florence Palaeontology museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Hippopotamidae |
| Genus: | Hippopotamus |
| Species: | †H. antiquus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Hippopotamus antiquus Desmarest 1822
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| Synonyms | |
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Hippopotamus antiquus is an extinct species of the genus Hippopotamus that ranged across Europe and parts of West Asia during the Early and Middle Pleistocene (from around 2.1 million to 400,000 years ago). It was considerably larger than the living hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), which replaced H. antiquus in Europe following its extinction.