Hippopotamus behemoth is an extinct species of hippopotamus from the Early Pleistocene of the Levant. Fossils of it, and its probable ancestor, H. gorgops, are found in the 'Ubeidiya site in the southern Israel, dating to the Early Pleistocene, around 1.4 million years ago.Rabinovich, Rivka, and Rebecca Biton. "The Early–Middle Pleistocene faunal assemblages of Gesher Benot Ya 'aqov: Inter-site variability." Journal of Human Evolution 60.4 (2011): 357-374.
H. behemoth differs from H. gorgops in having more elongated feet, and being somewhat smaller.Prothero, Donald R., and Scott E. Foss, eds. The evolution of artiodactyls. JHU Press, 2007. Some experts consider these differences to be too slight to justify separating the two species, however,Petronio, C. (1995): Note on the taxonomy of Pleistocene hippopotamuses. Ibex 3: 53-55. PDF fulltext while other authors have considered the species to be closer in morphology to the European species Hippopotamus antiquus.
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