#0236 · 🦊 mammals
Common Hippopotamus
🇳🇱 Nijlpaard ·Hippopotamus amphibius
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Mathias D'haen · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © David Renoult · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Tommy Andriollo · CC BY 4.0
- 4. © Annika Lindqvist · CC BY 4.0
- 5. © Michael Barth · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © mikeloomis · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © mikeloomis · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Don Lipmanson · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © John Sullivan · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Maureen Barlin · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
what is it?
The common hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius ), or hippo , is a large, mostly herbivorous, semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus ( Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis ). The name comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος). After the elephant and rhinoceros, the common hippopotamus is the third-largest type of land mammal and the heaviest extant artiodactyl. Despite their physical resemblance to...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 18,111 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
- Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
fact sheet
- English
- Common Hippopotamus
- Nederlands
- Nijlpaard
- scientific name
- Hippopotamus amphibius
- class
- Mammalia
- order
- Artiodactyla
- family
- Hippopotamidae
- IUCN Red List
- VU · vulnerable
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 18,111
- GBIF records in NL
- 12
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: kwetsbaar. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 42149, Wikidata Q34505, GBIF 2441247, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.