![]() The swift herbivores of the Serengeti in Africa today would outpace Anteosaurus. In fact, he adds, it is “perhaps unknowable.” Animals at that time were quite different from modern ones. Right now, Kammerer says, it’s hard to know whether this reptile was an ambush or pursuit predator. So it seems this animal could have been capable of sprints, he says. Anteosaurus probably had leaner limbs than related plant eaters. He is a paleontologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. Much of what’s known about Anteosaurus beyond the skull comes from its close relatives, points out Christian Kammerer. More data from the rest of the skeleton are needed, Tseng says, to better understand how these animals moved. But even in today’s beasts, scientists don’t know exactly how inner ears affect different types of motion. Those animals are only distant relatives of the early reptiles that include anteosaurs. Kruger’s group drew on comparisons with the inner ears of modern mammals, he notes. He works at the University of California, Berkeley. They found no “smoking gun,” says this paleontologist. ![]() However, he adds, this team has not proven anteosaurs were fleet-footed. These conclusions are reasonable, says Z. It could move quickly while tracking prey. All of these findings suggest that Anteosaurus was an agile hunter, Kruger says. That would allow it to more easily scan its environment. In contrast, the anteosaur appears to have held its head more level. The skull of this herbivore slopes downward. magnificus with that of a head-butting relative. ![]() The team also compared the skull of this A. The researchers shared these conclusions February 18 in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. It could have coordinated motion while spying prey. Their shape also suggests these reptiles had a rather large brain region. Bony tubes in those ears would have helped with balance. And the animal’s inner ears dwarfed those of its peer predators, they found. It appeared to have been adapted for head-butting. The team digitally reconstructed its long, bumpy noggin. The fossils came from a juvenile that had been dug up in South Africa. They started with CT scans of segments from a skull. Kruger was part of a team from Europe and Africa. The skull of an Anteosaurus magnificus now seems to tell a different story. They had assumed the animals waited to ambush prey. Based on that size, researchers had pegged them as sluggish. These beasts were about as big as today’s hippos or rhinos. He works at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. “This contradicts what we knew about anteosaurs before,” says Ashley Kruger. A new analysis now suggests these hefty beasts may have been relatively speedy. Other reptiles reigned as land’s largest predators. It is speculated that gases produced during digestion from fermentation are passed out through a hippo’s nostrils.Some 260 million years ago, dinosaurs had not yet evolved. Mother hippos have been known to kill lions and bite crocodiles in half. When traveling, females keep the youngsters in a single-file line behind them. Mother hippos often form nurseries for up to 40 young hippos on sandy beaches near the water. In addition, hippos are more deadly than many feared predators, including lions.Īn angry hippo can run much faster than a human they have been clocked in shorting running dashes at 30 mph. When hippos fight each other, they use their teeth, toss water at each other, accost each other with a variety of sounds and swing their massive heads together.Īlthough all hippos are herbivores and would rather run away than fight, several hundred people a year do not survive a close hippo encounters. They use this ability to scare away other animals.Īround the turn of the eighteenth century, hippo tusks were used to make artificial teeth. However, baby hippos can only stay underwater for twenty seconds.įew animals can open their mouths as wide as hippos can. However, courtship, birth and nursing takes place underwater.Īdult hippos can stay underwater for five to six minutes. This does not present a problem, since they can either paddle to stay afloat or simply walk along the river bottom.įeeding always occurs on land. Hippos cannot float because their heavy muscles weigh them down and cause them to sink. Hippos can turn each ear in a different direction at the same time.Ī bull hippos' bellow has been measured at 115 decibels. Only elephants and some white rhinos are larger.Īt birth a hippopotamus weighs 30 - 60 kg, and it takes 4 to 5 years to reach maturity and a weight of 3600 kg. Male hippos can be up to 15 feet long, 5 feet high, and 8,000 pounds in weight, making them one of the largest terrestrial mammals. " Hippopotamus " means " river horse " in Greek.
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