Baluchitherium
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| Baluchitherium Conservation status: Fossil | ||||||||||||||
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| Baluchitherium grangeri |
Baluchitherium (also called Indricotherium; full name: Baluchitherium grangeri) was a gigantic hornless rhinoceros. It lived in Asia during the late Oligocene and early Miocene epoch of the Tertiary Period, 20-30 million years ago and went extinct 10 million years ago. Its name means 'The Beast from Baluchistan.'
Baluchitherium is believed to have been the largest land mammal ever to have lived. It stood 5.5 m (18 ft) high at the shoulders and was 9 m (30 ft) long. Its skull was about 2 m/6.6 ft in length, its limbs were long and massive, and it weighed about 20 tons. It was a herbivore that stripped leaves from trees with its down-pointing tusklike upper teeth that occluded forward-pointing lower teeth.
Fossilized bones of baluchitherium have been found in central Asia. They may have been limited to Asia, for their fossils have not been found elsewhere.
External link
- Indricotherium (http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/beasts/photo/photo2_zoom5.html)