uganda hippo and his personal tick bird, hippos of uganda

Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, the hippos' closest living relatives are cetaceans�whales, porpoises and the like. The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. The earliest known hippopotamus fossils, belonging to the genus Kenyapotamus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.