1034 THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



are still to be found in large numbers. Generally, it may be stated that at the pres- 

 ent day the hippopotamus inhabits most of the African rivers and lakes lying be- 

 tween the seventeenth parallel of north and the twenty -fifth of south latitude; that 

 is to say, in the south it is found in the upper course of the Limpopo. Formerly, 

 however, its distribution embraced the greater part of the Cape Colony. In East, 

 South, and West Africa the hippopotamus comes much nearer to the coast than in 

 the north, and in many districts it is to be found quite close to, or even in the sea 

 itself. On the other hand, in Abyssinia these animals are found dwelling in Lake 

 Dembea, at an elevation of over six thousand feet above the sea level. The 

 existing species is unknown in Madagascar; but from the reference to it in the Bible, 

 under the name of Behemoth, it is just possible that it may have inhabited Palestine 

 within the historic period. 



In the Pleistocene and upper portion of the Pliocene epoch a large hippopotamus 

 which appears specifically indistinguishable from the living kind was widely spread 

 over Europe, extending from Italy in the south to England in the north. These 

 fossil hippopotami were, however, of considerably larger dimensions than at least 

 the average of the existing race. In England, the range of the animal extended as 

 far north as Yorkshire; and it is a remarkable circumstance that in several English 

 localities remains of the hippopotamus are found lying side by side with those of the 

 reindeer. It has been attempted to explain this association of such southern and 

 northern types by assuming that in the Pleistocene period the summers were very 

 hot and the winters very cold, and that during the summer the hippopotami 

 wandered northward into regions tenanted in winter by the reindeer. There are, 

 however, difficulties in the way of accepting this explanation, not the least being 

 the circumstance that the living African hippopotamus is not a migratory animal. 

 We may, however, be pretty confident that wherever remains of hippopotami are 

 found, there the rivers must have been free from ice throughout at least the greater 

 part of the year. 



The hippopotamus is more essentially an aquatic animal than any 

 other Ungulate, the greater portion of its time being spent in the 

 water, where its movements are far more rapid and natural than they are on land. 

 As the carcass of a hippopotamus when freshly killed sinks rapidly to the bottom, 

 the specific gravity of the animal when the lungs are inflated with air cannot be far, 

 if at all, below that of water, and the animal is consequently enabled to stay with- 

 out difficulty at the bottom of a river or lake, where it can run with ease and speed. 

 Sir S. Baker states that, when undisturbed, the average duration of time during 

 which a hippopotamus remains under water does not exceed five minutes; but in 

 regions where these animals are much hunted the length of the immersion is often 

 much greater, sometimes extending to as much as ten minutes. The same writer 

 also mentions that when on the Upper Nile in a steamer that was traveling about 

 ten knots an hour, it was not till the engineer increased the pace by putting on full 

 steam, they were able to overtake a hippopotamus swimming about a hundred yards 

 in advance of the vessel. When a hippopotamus comes to the surface it generally 

 spouts up a column of water by the violent blowing-out of air through the nostrils, 

 accompanied by a loud snorting noise; but, as we shall again notice, these animals 



