| Hippopotamus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The river hippopotamus,Hippopotamus amphibius | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Hippopotamidae |
| Subfamily: | Hippopotaminae |
| Genus: | Hippopotamus Linnaeus,1758 |
| Type species | |
| Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Hippopotamus, meaning "river horse" inAncient Greek, is agenus ofartiodactyl mammals consisting of one extant species,Hippopotamus amphibius, the river hippopotamus (or simply the hippopotamus), and several extinct species from both recent and prehistoric times. It belongs to the familyHippopotamidae, which also includes thepygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) and a number of extinct genera.
The word hippopotamus originates from Ancient Greek, meaning "river horse". The plural in English is 'hippopotamuses', although the Oxford Dictionary says that 'hippopotami' is also correct, but this is due to it wrongly assuming that it is a Latin word; going the Greek way would be 'hippopotamodes', but this isn't used in English.
Hippos have a barrel-shaped body, short legs, big mouths, short tails with hair at the tips, four-toed hooves with webbing, big canines used for defense, big upper lips with sparse whiskers, two little ears on top of their heads, their eyes, also on top of their heads, have horizontal oval-shaped pupils, and can range from brown to green, and two nostrils that can shut underwater.
The species of the genusHippopotamus include:
Media related toHippopotamus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related toHippopotamus at Wikispecies
