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When Hippos Roamed the Streets of Leeds!

Fascinating facts

1. The Leeds Geological Association uses the hippo as its logo.

2. The site where the hippo bones were discovered is next to where the Armley Gyratory is today.

3. In Egyptian mythology, the hippopotamus-headed goddess was called Tawaret. She was a goddess of protection in pregnancy and childbirth.

4. Hippopotamuses can be very aggressive whilst defending their territories or babies. They are one of the top most dangerous animals in Africa and cause more deaths than any other large animal.

5. Hippos can run over 20 miles an hour and have enormous jaws with huge canine teeth.

6. Hippos are mainly herbivorous nocturnal feeders – why do you think this is?

7. We can find out what ancient Hippos might have been eating by extracting plant fragments from their teeth and comparing them to the plants that would have been around at the time.

8. Archaeologists have also found the remains of red deer at Kirkstall and tusks from a mammoth at Thwaite Mills.

9. Leeds Museums has lots of fossils including a dinosaur egg from a Hypselosaurus. The Hypselosaurus was a herbivore living around 65 million years ago. There are also some dinosaur footprints from an Anchisurus and a Plesiornis and even some fossilized dinosaur poo!