the loss of speed was not a significant handicap. 



The small size of most rodents and insectivores 

 allows them to hide from predators in small burrows. It 

 is possible for these once-small animals to become lar- 

 ger when there are no ground-living carnivores to prey 



The Pleistocene-Early Holocene Fauna of Cyprus 



An average adult African hippopotamus is 12-15 feet 

 long, 3 '74 feet tall and weighs about 4'/: tons. The Cyp- 

 riot pygmy hippopotamus, Phanouriosminutus, current- 



Fossil denizens of prehistoric Malta: dwarfed eleptnants and hippopotamus, giant 

 swans, dormouse, and tortoise. From Andrew Leith Adams, Notes of a Naturalist 

 in ttie Nile Valley and Ivtalta. 1870, Edinburgh. 



on them. Larger size would provide an additional pro- ly known from 32 sites, would have been less than 5 

 24 tection from the (sometimes giant) birds of prey. feet long and 2Vi feet tall. The modern African ele- 



