Talk:Pygmy hippopotamus/Archive 1

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Archive 1

Enemies

What animals prey on them? If you know put it in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.26.115.45 (talk) 05:27, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

It's already in the article :) They may be preyed upon by leopards, crocodiles and pythons, but it's not known how often this happens. --JayHenry (talk) 05:40, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Picture

A photo would be AWESOME! Sam [Spade] 05:34, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

Other recently-extinct pygmy Hippos

Another dwarf species, Phanourios minutis, existed on the island of Cyprus but became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, just as humans colonized the island. Are there not other relict populations recently extinct? A note would be interesting in this entry. Wetman 13:55, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Genera Change

The phylogeny and taxonomy of Hippopotamidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla): a review based on morphology and cladistic analysis JEAN-RENAUD BOISSERIE1,2*

The phylogeny and taxonomy of the whole family Hippopotamidae is in need of reconsideration, the present confusion obstructing palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography studies of these Neogene mammals. The revision of the Hippopotamidae initiated here deals with the last 8 Myr of African and Asian species. The first thorough cladistic analysis of the family is presented here. The outcome of this analysis, including 37 morphological characters coded for 15 extant and fossil taxa, as well as non-coded features of mandibular morphology, was used to reconstruct broad outlines of hippo phylogeny. Distinct lineages within the paraphyletic genus Hexaprotodon are recognized and characterized. In order to harmonize taxonomy and phylogeny, two new genera are created. The genus name Choeropsis is re-validated for the extant Liberian hippo. The nomen Hexaprotodon is restricted to the fossil lineage mostly known in Asia, but also including at least one African species. The genus Hippopotamus is confirmed. These changes represent substantial advances for understanding the evolutionary history of the Hippopotamidae, and provide a new framework for future studies. © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2005, 143, 1–26.[1]Pmaas 15:28, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Although this comment is over a year old, I'll respond. This paper is but one opinion that the Pygmy Hippo should be reclassified. It'd be a mistake to consider it a settled issue. I think the best option, for now, is to include in a taxonomy section an explanation about the original naming as Choeropsis, the commonly accepted switch to Hexaprotodon and the recently proposed reclassification as Choeropsis, rather than present this as a settled issue. --JayHenry 05:20, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
Although this comment is thirteen years old (^^), I'll respond too. As of June 2020, virtually every paper published in the last decade assigns the pygmy hippo to Choeropsis. At this point, I think we can consider the matter settled for now.--Leptictidium (mt) 09:53, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Picture

I think that a couple photos or so would really help a lot of people actually visually "see" the Pygmy Hippo. (I have not actually seen one in my entire life) Thanks a lot! 70.137.158.151 02:25, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Sorry

I meant a photo of its mouth/teeth. Thanks.

New structure

After revamping Hippopotamus I'm planning on doing some work here. I'm thinking of a new structure along the following lines:

  • Lead (2-3 paras)
  • Taxonomy and naming
    • Origins
  • Description
  • Behaviour
    • Diet
    • Reproduction
  • Distribution and habitat
    • Conservation
    • Pygmy hippos in zoos

Thoughts are most welcome. --JayHenry 05:15, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

I rearranged the article to be more biological in its mindset. i.e. starting with anatomy, then a physiology section (nonexistent yet), then onto it's ecological roles starting with the range and distribution, then on to actual ecological subsections, then the systematic biology section with the evolutionary history right after to establish the context of the section. Only after all the important sections are the human-related (conservation, etc) sections needed. Pictures still need rearranging though. Shrumster 12:16, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
Oh well, I tried. Moving on. Shrumster 13:30, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
Just an explanation. This article merely follows the generally agreed upon structure of Featured Articles in biology. The reason for the article's focus on human-related sections relative to some other articles is that, as a solitary, nocturnal, forest-dwelling creature in one of the world's most war-torn regions pygmy hippos are nearly impossible to study in nature. This is explained in the article. Furthermore, I'm confident that a rather sizable majority of the readers of the encyclopedia are humans, on behalf of my entire genus I'd dispute the claim that the human-related sections are unimportant! --JayHenry 01:55, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

FA and Wikiprojects

Since passing it's FAC, pygmy hippopotamus has been claimed by not one, but two, wikiprojects! Yay! --JayHenry 01:55, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Aggression?

Is the Pygmy Hippo considered aggressive, like its larger cousin? How aggressive is it compared to the common hippo?

Just out of curiosity.

K00bine 01:40, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I just noticed this comment. I don't have the answer off the top of my head but I will look into this in the next couple days and add a sentence or two on the question. --JayHenry 04:45, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Bibliography

Just wanted to leave a note here that I keep a bibliography of all my hippo research at User:JayHenry/hippos (some of which wasn't used in this particular article). If anybody ever wants me to look something up in any of those sources, just let me know. --JayHenry 04:47, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

The five sources below were recently added below the references section, but I'm not sure if they were actually used to cite anything. I've moved them here for now, so someone can use them for reference and add to the article if they find anything useful. I'd never read about Eisenhower receiving a pygmy hippo, so it might be particularly fun to dig those sources up. --JayHenry 20:54, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

  • Stroman, H.R.,& Slaughter, L.M., "The care and breeding of the Pygmy hippopotamus Choerpsis liberiensis in captivity", National Zoological Park, International Zoo Yearbook Vol. 12, 1972
  • Rahn, P., "On housing the Pygmy hippopotamus Choerpsis liberiensis in pairs: a survey of zoo practice", Zoologischer Garten Berlin, International Zoo Yearbook Vol. 18, 1978
  • Leutenegger, Madeleine "Pygmy hippopotamus Choeropsis liberiensis births in captivity", Basel Zoo, International Zoo Yearbook Vol. 18, 1978
  • "Pigmy hippopotamus, gift to President Eisenhower by Liberian President Tubman, en route to zoo", The New York Times, Jan. 22. 2:7
  • Hippo Takes Shipboard Stroll, and Misses His Washington Debut", The New York Times, F. 5, 29:2

New Picture

A pair of pygmy hippos at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy
A pair of pygmy hippos beg for sugar cane at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy

Here are two photo which somebody might want to incorporate into the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chuckupd (talk • contribs) 18:49, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

  • Any reason why a picture is used in the taxobox where not even half of the animal is visible? A better one on Flickr:[2] FunkMonk (talk) 23:32, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
I agree. That would make a good lead image. You should upload it. LittleJerry (talk) 19:21, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Poor Wording in Third Paragraph

"A rare nocturnal forest creature, the pygmy hippopotamus is a difficult animal to study in the wild; it also lives primarily in countries with a great degree of civil strife." Seem a little strange to anyone? 96.232.6.237 (talk) 02:27, 15 August 2008 (UTC)Brancron

I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at. The ideas are connected. It is difficul to study nocturnal forest creatures. It is even more difficult to study animals that are in the middle of a country engaged in civil war. --JayHenry (talk) 02:34, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Cetaceans

Cetaceans are members of Cetartiodactyla, an unranked clade that also includes Artiodactyla. It is not correct to say that Cetaceans are Artiodactyls (this claim, at any rate, is not supported by the sources in this article.) --JayHenry (talk) 13:30, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Blood sweat cleanup?

This article states that the chemical composition of "blood sweat" is alkyline (basic). The wiki article on the regular hippopotamus says that the same substance is a pair of acidic compounds. Does the 'sweat' have a completely opposite chemical composition in pygmy hippos, or is one of these articles incorrect? -- Wingchild (talk) 11:46, 15 August 2008 (EST)

I've found an answer to this. The "sweat" itself, as a mixture, is alkaline (ph: 8.5-10.5). The two pigments that control the color-shifting of the sweat are both acidic (red `hipposudoric acid`, orange `norhipposudoric acid`, phs not available off the top of my head.) Data at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v429/n6990/full/429363a.html.
-- Wingchild (talk) 12:99, 15 August 2008 (EST)

Picture Sources

What was meant by "no sources given for these restorations, not acceptable for FA"? Is the references I used for making the pictures in the first place, or where the pictures came from? Or is it the statements in the pictures that need references?--Mr Fink (talk) 05:24, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

I meant the actual drawing. How do you know that they looked like that? LittleJerry (talk) 02:46, 29 December 2011 (UTC)
So where in Wikipedia guidelines does it explicitly forbids people from uploading restorations of extinct animals without references to your specific tastes? Or, should we go through and purge Wikpiedia of all restorations entirely, because we aren't sure the living organisms looked exactly like their restorations?--Mr Fink (talk) 02:59, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! I loved this article, it helped me so much on my report.

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East Africa

The article treats it as a West African animal, except for an extinct population on Madagscar, but according to the article on Mafia Island it has been reported there too.150.227.15.253 (talk) 09:03, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up, I just removed that mention from Mafia Island. There's no substantial evidence of pygmy hippo presence there. Pygmy hippos require a very different habitat from hippos, and there's no chance for mixed populations. Someone at the tourist board seems to have been shooting the breeze with that tweet... --Elmidae (talk · contribs) 09:54, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
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