Pygmy hippopotamus the pygmy hippopotamus, are considered dwarf hippopotamuses, rather than pygmies. They are likely descended from a full-sized species of European hippopotamus, and reached their small size through the evolutionary process of insular dwarfism which is common on islands; the ancestors of pygmy hippopotami were also small and thus there was never a dwarfing process. There were also several species of pygmy hippo on the island of Madagascar (see Malagasy hippopotamus). Pygmy hippos share the same general form as a hippopotamus. They have a graviportal skeleton, with four stubby legs and four toes on each foot, supporting a portly frame. The
Pygmy goose end of a tarsometatarsus. It is only record of the genus in the New World. The genus "Nettapus" was erected by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt in 1836. The word "Nettapus" is from the Ancient Greek "nētta" "duck" and "pous" "foot". It was thought that the type species, the African pygmy goose ("Nettapus auritus"), possessed the feet and body of a duck and the neck of a goose. There are three extant species in the genus: Pygmy geese have short bills, rounded heads and short legs. They nest in tree holes. Pygmy goose The pygmy geese are a