Most of us would think that hippopotamus is the endemic animal of the African continent. Not so, apparently. A long, long time ago, during the Pliocene Epoch (Age), hippopotamus also roamed the island of Java as is evidenced by the discovery of this fossil.
This fossil of Javanese Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus Simplex or Hexaprotodon sivajananicus) is one of Indonesia's vertebrate fossil collection stored and displayed at Bandung Museum of Geology (see yesterday's post). This fossil along with many others were excavated from the Trinil area of Bengawan Solo (the Solo River) in Central Java in the early 20th Century.
Fosil Kudanil Jawa (Hippopotamus simplex atau Hexaprotodon sivajavanicus) koleksi Museum Geologi Bandung. Fosil ini ditemukan di daerah Trinil di tepian sungai Bengawan Solo pada awal abad ke-20. Kudanil pernah hidup di pulau Jawa pada Kala Pliosin (kira-kira 5 hingga 1 juta tahun yang lalu).
wow! the skeletons of different species somehow look like each other. i would have guessed this one's a dinosaur or something.
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