Fossils of 10 dwarf hippopotamuses endemic to Crete and dating back to 350,000 years BC have been discovered during excavations by a team from the University of Athens, palaeontologist Giorgos Lyras told French News Agency AFP on Monday.
“This is an important discovery, it is the first time that such a high concentration of dwarf hippopotamus fossils has been found in Greece,” the palaeontology professor at the University of Geology in Athens explained .
Similar discoveries of endemic prehistoric animals have been made in Cyprus, Malta, Sicily and Madagascar, he added.
The excavations began last week on Mount Katharo in the eastern department of Lasithi, at an altitude of 1,100 metres, and will continue until next weekend.
“We expect to find a greater number of hippopotamus fossils,” Giorgos Lyras stressed, pointing out that their existence had been known since the 18th century, but “this is the first time that scientific excavations have been carried out to unearth them.”
In September, excavations will resume at the same sites before stopping in winter due to low temperatures and snow, which is common in the region.
Fossils of other endemic animals have been discovered on Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, such as dwarf elephants on Tilos and Rhodes, in the Dodecanese archipelago, or on Naxos in the Cyclades.
