[2] It is the largest of the insular dwarf hippos known from the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean, "at most 20% smaller than the mainland forms",[3] with an estimated body mass of approximately 1100 kg.

In comparison to those species, the muzzle was shorter, the occipital and nasal regions were more developed, the mastoid process was enlarged, and the dental row was shortened, and the condyle of the mandible is low.

[2] It was present in Sicily until at least the latest Middle Pleistocene around 120 kya,[5] and was probably extinct by the beginning of Marine Isotope Stage 4 (~71,000 years ago).

[2] Contemporaneous species include the dwarf elephant Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis, the aurochs, red deer, steppe bison, fallow deer, wild boar, brown bear, wolves, red foxes, cave hyena and cave lions.

It is probably ancestral to Hippopotamus melitensis from Malta, which is substantially smaller than H.