Two Limb Bone Fragments of <i>Hippopotamus antiquus</i> (IMAGE)

Wiley

Two Limb Bone Fragments of <i>Hippopotamus antiquus</i>

Caption

These are two limb bone fragments of Hippopotamus antiquus from the collections of the Geological and Palaeontological Section of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Florence, Italy. The broken diaphyses of the bones show the medullary cavities tightly packed with cancellous bone: A, distal half of right humerus (IGF 640), cranial view; B, distal half of right humerus (IGF 640), proximal view; C, distal half of right tibia (IGF 670), dorsal view; and D, distal half of right tibia (IGF 670), proximal view. The enlarged proximal views (B, D) show the medullary cavities of the diaphyses filled with cancellous bone. This solution, which can be observed also in modern H. amphibius, increases the specific bone density of the distal parts of the limb bones, enabling hippopotamuses to overcome buoyancy (Wall 1983; Fish & Stein 1991; Thewissen et al. 2009). Scale bar 10 cm.

Credit

Lethaia

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Credit: Lethaia

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