14. Søecies: Hippopotamus amphibius 1 5. Common Names: English: Common hippopotamus

21. Distribution: Two thousand years ago, the common hippopotamus was distributed throughout Africa, wherever freshwater rivers, lakes and swamps and grass for food were available. It was found not only in the tropical forests, but from the Nile delta to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, and in many parts of the Sahel and the southern Sahara. Over the past two centuries, the hippopotamus has disappeared from northern Africa, from the Nile north of the Blue Nile and the White Nile, and from virtually all of South Africa (Grzimek, 1 990). Its habitat has been severely curtailed and deteriorated as a result of the intensification of human activities on the African continent, including the development of waterways, the establishment of villages, irrigation and overgrazing. Current data show that, while hippopotamus populations appear to have declined seriously in number, they are still relatively well represented across the continent, and many enjoy relative safety in protected areas and national parks (Eltringham, 1 993 and IUCN Directory of Afrotropical Protected Areas, 1987). The species is very poorly represented in western Africa, where the population is fragmented into a large number of small groups. Virtually all of its members are found in eastern and southern Africa (see Figure 1). Defining the range of the hippopotamus is no easy task, however, because, while the species is primarily sedentary, normally ranging over a radius of perhaps ten kilometres from its daytime resting point, some animals occasionally wander Other Proposals- Mammalia- page 147 Figure 1: Approximate current distribution of Hippopotamus amphibiu