Overview
- Hippo remains from Germany’s Upper Rhine Graben were directly dated to roughly 47,000–31,000 years ago, overturning the long‑held view that they vanished about 115,000 years ago.
- Researchers analyzed 19 specimens using radiocarbon dating supported by amino‑acid geochronology and recovered a partial paleogenome from one fossil.
- Ancient DNA shows the Ice Age animals belonged to the same species as modern African common hippos and exhibited very low genome‑wide diversity, consistent with a small, isolated group.
- The dates overlap with local mammoth and woolly rhino finds, indicating warm interstadial windows or refugia that allowed heat‑loving hippos to persist alongside cold‑adapted megafauna.
- The authors urge re‑dating other European hippo remains and note it is unresolved whether central European presence was continuous or reflected repeated short‑term recolonizations.