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Dwarf hippos unearthed

hippo fossils1
Scientists have found a collapsed cave full of fossilized remains of extinct dwarf hippopotamuses just outside the resort of Ayia Napa on the southeastern coast of Cyprus. With the possibility of more remains buried underneath, these recent digs could prove the existence of hippos in the island to a quarter-million years back. This, in turn, could say a lot about when exactly humans started inhabiting the island. Ioannis Panayides, the Cyprus Geological Survey Department official in charge of excavations in conjunction with the University of Athens said that the knowledge of our geological history will help us know more about our own history.These 2 1/2 feet tall and 4 feet long dwarf hippopotamuses were herbivorous and had low-slung nostrils, unlike the modern hippos’ upturned ones, which enabled them to search for food. Similarly their legs and feet were designed in such a way that they could actually stand on their hind legs to reach branches.
But what remains as a puzzle is the fact that how these creatures reached Cyprus as the island has no physical links with another land mass. Paleontologists, however, believe that they could have swum or floated across clinging onto tree trunks and other debris during the Pleistocene ice age, from what is now known as Turkey or Syria. Thanks to the lower sea levels at that time, Cyprus was a much larger island and closer to other land masses, and, therefore, it wasn’t such a long journey after all as Syria was just about 18 miles away back then.
source: yahoonews

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