Hippopotamus Skull

3D Model

Despite belonging to a juvenile Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), this skull is still impressively large (and heavy). Of note are the huge flared muscle attachments on the jaw, giving the animal a very powerful bite. Its tusks, which are mostly hidden in life by the lips and gums, but still make the hippo incredibly dangerous if it so chooses to be. The protruding eyes on the top of the skull let the hippo peek above the water’s surface even when it is almost entirely submerged. The skeleton of this hippo was collected from a zoo near London and given to the Lapworth Museum by Russell Coope.

This specimen was digitised by Jack Mayer Wood using photogrammetry, and is part of a collection of bones from this individual hippo that have been digitised.