Woolly Rhinoceros
|
|
| Woolly Rhinoceros Conservation status: Extinct (8 000 B.C. or later) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missing image Wooly_rhinoceros.jpg Wooly Rhinoceros | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach, 1807 |
The Woolly Rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) is an extinct species of rhinoceros that survived the last ice age. It lived on the northern steppes of Eurasia, whereas its relative the Giant Unicorn had a more southern range. It had a flat horn that enabled it to push aside snow in order to graze.
This plant-eater was about 11 feet (3.5 m) long. It had two horns on its snout, the lower one larger than the one between its eyes (about 3 feet (1 m) long). It had long hair, small ears, short, thick legs, and a stocky body.
It was hunted by early humans, who probably caused its extinction. Its shape was known from prehistoric cave drawings until a completely preserved specimen (missing only the fur and hooves) was discovered in a tar pit in Starunia, Poland. The specimen, an adult female, is now on display in the Polish Academy of Science Museum of Natural History in Krakow.
Recent carbon dating has shown that populations survived as recently as 8,000 B.C. in Western Siberia (PDF) (http://www.socarchsci.org/bulletin/SAS2634.pdf). A close relative, the Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), still survives in South-East Asia, but is highly endangered.