Madagascan Mystery: A Hippo Head-scratcher Over the past couple months, while doing my own work involving extant Madagascan animals, my mind has drifted toward extinct species native to the island. Things which we were so close to seeing, but sadly have disappeared. Giant Lemurs, Giant Fossas, Elephant Birds, Horned Crocodiles, Giant Tortoises, and Hippos. Hippos? The others make sense, they mostly have extant relatives on Madagascar today (except elephant birds of course), and are animals we associate with the fauna of Madagascar today. But, Hippos too did indeed make it to Madagascar, but how exactly did they make it there? **Madagascar’s Hippos, a brief overview of the species:** Many of us are aware that until fairly recently - possibly within 1000 years, maybe even more recently - hippos once call the island of Madagascar home. No, I’m not talking about Gloria from the Dreamworks movies, but 3 endemic hippos.…