Hippos lived at the Upper Rhine in the same time frame as mammoths. (Rebecca Kind via SWNS) By Talker

By Stephen Beech

Hippos lived in Europe alongside mammoths and woolly rhinos during the last Ice Age, according to new research.

Detailed analysis of bone finds shows that the heat-loving semi-aquatic mammals inhabited part of present-day Germany around 47,000 to 31,000 years ago - 80,000 years more recently than previously thought.

Until now, it was believed that hippos - only found today in sub-Saharan Africa - became extinct in central Europe about 115,000 years ago.

But the new study, published in the journal Current Biology , shows they survived in central Europe far longer than previously assumed.

An international research team proved hippos were still living in the Uppe

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