Woolly Rhinoceros

The woolly rhinoceros roamed the earth between three and a half million and 14,000 years ago.
Woolly Rhinoceros Scientific Classification
Scientific name
†Coelodonta antiquitatis
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Mammalia
Family
Rhinocerotidae
Order
Perissodactyla
Genus
†Coelodonta
Woolly Rhinoceros Physical Characteristics
Color
Brown, Red
Weight
Up to 7000 lbs
Woolly Rhinoceros Distribition

Woolly Rhinoceros Summary  & Dimension s

The woolly rhinoceros stood regarding 6 feet high at the shoulders and regarding 9 feet to the top of its head. Its body was covered in a thick reddish- brownish hair. Woolly rhinoceros had to do with 15 feet long from the pointer of their noes to the base of their tails. This rhino’s most distinguishing characteristics were the big keratin horn on the top of completion of their nose, and the additional smaller sized horn near their eyes. These old animals might have evaluated as long as 7,000 extra pounds.

The scientific name for the Woolly Rhinoceros is Coelodonta antiquitatis, the initial word defining the dental caries of their molar and the 2nd definition “of classical times.”

Diet – What Did Woolly Rhinoceros Eat?

The woolly rhinoceros was a herbivore. Just the hardest lawn might make it through in the expanse and cold meadows where these just as challenging animals wandered, so the woolly rhinocerous had solid, substantial teeth and a well- established jaw, which were flawlessly fit to the steppe grasses that comprised virtually the whole of their diet. Researchers think that along with lawns and sedge, the woolly rhinoceros most likely consumed forbs such as artemisia, mosses, hedge sprouts, lichen, and various other floral plants.

Environment – When and Where Woolly Rhinoceros lived

The woolly rhinoceros lived throughout the Pliocene and Pleistocene dates, while of the glacial period, from regarding 3,600,000 years ago up until less than 15,000 years back. They wandered throughout the expanse and meadows in the continent that is currently Europe, along with right into components of what is currently Asia. The loss of their environment as the glacial period finished was a huge factor to their ultimate death practically 30,000 years back.

Woolly Rhinoceros Risks And Predators

The best risks to the woolly rhinoceros, in the long run, were too much searching by guy, transforming climate, and loss of environment and food supply. While when they flourished, however, grown-up woolly rhinoceros had extremely couple of all-natural predators, with guy being their only real risk. On the various other hand, adolescent and child rhinocerouses were a various issue, nonetheless. Infant woolly rhinocerous predators consisted of cave lions and primitive hyenas.

Discoveries and Fossils – Where Woolly Rhinoceros was Found

Though the initial woolly rhinoceros head was discovered in 1335 in Austria, at the time, they thought it to come from a dragon. When the species was initial explained, after the exploration of bones in 1769, the initial recorded partial remains of a woolly rhinoceros were uncovered in Siberia, in the Vilyuy River in 1771. In 1877, a lot more Siberian remains were discovered in the Yana River. It had not been up until 1907 that a complete sampling was discovered, complied with by a 2nd undamaged sampling a couple of months later on in the exact same area, this moment in Starunia.

Among one of the most vital explorations was “Sasha,” a mummified adolescent rhinocerous whose hair and also soft cells were protected when she was discovered in Yakutia. 6 years later on in 2020, an entirely undamaged rhinocerous, around 4 years of ages at the time of its fatality, was uncovered in the exact same area. The 2020 exploration is taken into consideration maybe the most effective woolly rhinoceros sampling ever before discovered, as its inner body organs and also its nasal horn was undamaged. The earliest fossil of a woolly rhinoceros discovered thus far remained in Tibet and it goes back to over 3 and a fifty percent million years back, though we understand they were still active as just recently as 14,000 years back.

Fossil of woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) at Shanghai Natural History Museum. The Woolly rhinoceros became extinct during last glacial period around 10,000 years ago.
Fossil of woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) at Shanghai Nature Gallery. The Woolly rhinoceros ended up being extinct throughout the last antarctic duration around 10,000 years back.AKKHARAT JARUSILAWONG/Shutterstock. com

Termination – When Did Woolly Rhinoceros Pass Away Out?

The last of these animals shows up to have actually lived around 14,000 years back. Right now, they were being pursued by guy and likewise by various other animals. The woolly rhinocerouses’ hair pelts along with their meat would certainly no question have actually been treasured gains for a Pliocene or Pleistocene age seeker and their clan. Overhunting along with transforming environment and environment loss all added to the termination of this old monster. Their thick hair indicated they were well- fit for the severe cold of the glacial period and when the climate started to heat up once more, the wooly rhinoceros could not adjust. Their food resources most likely endured the exact same destiny, adding much more to their ultimate death as a species.

Comparable Animals to The Woolly Rhinoceros

The closest living family member of the woolly rhinoceros is the Sumatran rhinoceros. Below are some comparable old animals:

  • Large rhinocerous – Paraceratherium, which lived throughout the Oligocene date regarding 20- 30 million years back, did not have the horn that makes real rhinocerouses so distinct. They stood virtually 15 feet high at the shoulder and might evaluate approximately 20 loads.
  • ” Thin plate beast” – At a shoulder elevation of 9 feet, Elasmotherium was not as big as the gigantic rhinocerous, however it did have a horn. Though no instances of the horns endured, researchers think the horn was substantial, based not just on the rhinocerous’s dimension however on the dimension of the opening left in Elasmotherium’s head where the horn was connected.
  • Woolly Mammoth – Though they share no typical origins, the woolly monstrous was an additional substantial hairy animal that lived throughout a comparable amount of time and carbon monoxide- existed with the woolly rhinoceros. Woolly mammoths had to do with the exact same dimension as modern-day elephants, with the primary difference being their hair layer and their substantial tusks.

References:

  1. GBIF, Available here: https://www.gbif.org/species/144098801
  2. Wikipedia, Available here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_rhinoceros
  3. Reading Museum , Available here: https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/Object%20Explorer%20woolly%20rhino_compressed.pdf
  4. Mongabay, Available here: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/why-did-the-woolly-rhino-go-extinct/
  5. Britannica, Available here: https://www.britannica.com/animal/woolly-rhinoceros
  6. Earth Touch News Network, Available here: https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/evolution/heres-a-line-up-of-prehistoric-beasts-from-the-rhino-family-tree/
  7. Syfy, Available here: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/prehistoric-woolly-rhino-most-well-preserved
  8. Animals Time, Available here: https://animalstime.com/woolly-rhino-facts/

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