African wet habitats during the Neogene: contribution of the large semiaquatic and potamophilous mammals.  This type of habitat played a central role in the ecological and biogeographical history of hominids. The selected environmental markers (hippopotamuses, pigs), in association with human fossils and behavioral evidence, will allow me to reconstruct the evolution of wet habitats and of hydrographical networks.

Hippopotamids are large mammals, with short, stumpy legs, and barrel-shaped bodies. They have large heads, with broad mouths, and nostrils placed at the top of the snout. Like pigs, they have four toes, but unlike pigs, all of the toes are used in walking. Hippopotamids are unguligrade, although, unlike most other such animals, they have no hooves, instead using a pad of tough connective tissue. Their stomach has three chambers, but they are not true ruminants. The living species are both smooth-skinned, and lack both sebaceous glands and sweat glands. The outer epidermis is relatively thin, so that hippos dehydrate rapidly in dry environments.

Hippos have rotund bodies and short legs. Unlike other artiodactyls, which have only two functional hooves, there are four toes on each foot with slight webbing between them. The thick skin appears hairless apart from a few bristles around the mouth and on the tail, but there is a covering of very fine hairs at low density over the whole of the body. There are no sweat glands as such, but there are large skin glands that secrete a viscous liquid that turns pink on exposure to air. The secretion probably acts as a sunscreen; it is also thought to have antiseptic properties. The skin needs to be kept wet, and cracks appear if the hippo is prevented from entering water.

The Safari Rally is the last in the EARC Series and took place between April 3th to April 5th in Nairobi, Kenya with the kick off at KICC on the 3rd of April and rally action at Elementaita and Stony Athi
Since 2003, KCB Bank has been sponsoring the Kenya National Rally Championships which consists of 7 rallies through out the year and are staged in different towns throughout Kenya. In 2008, KCB launched the East Africa Rally Challenge (EARC) this rally consisted of the Kobil rally of Tanzania, The KCB Pearl of Africa in Uganda, and the KCB Safari Rally in Kenya.
The Safari Rally is considered by many to be the world’s toughest rally. It was first held from May 27 to June 1, 1953 as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Ugandaand Tanzania, as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1960 it was renamed the East African Safari Rally and kept that name until 1974, when it became the Safari Rally.

The event was part of the World Rally Championship calendar for many years until being excluded due to lack of funding & organization in 2003. The Kenyan government is trying to get the rally’s WRC status restored. Since 2003 the event has been part of the African Rally Championship organized by the FIA. It is currently known as the KCB Safari Rally after its sponsor, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB).
The Safari was a markedly different rally from the other dates on the WRC schedule. About 5300 km of gravel roads comprised the course, though there were not distinct special stages as in other rallies, but instead the course was uncontrolled. The rally was considered very punishing, and thus many of the successful teams were specifically focused on it, leading to a different set of front-runners than led most other rallies.