Temporal range: Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene, 7–0.039 Ma
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Reconstructed E. caucasicum skeleton, Azov Museum of History, Archaeology and Palaeontology
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Perissodactyla
Family:
Rhinocerotidae
Subfamily:
†Elasmotheriinae
Genus:
†Elasmotherium J. Fischer, 1808[1]
Type species
†Elasmotherium sibiricum
Other Species
†E. caucasicum
†E. chaprovicum
†E. peii
†E. primigenium
Approximate range map for Elasmotherium
Synonyms
Stereoceros
Enigmatherium
E. fischeri = E. sibiricum
E. inexpectatum = E. caucasicum
Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during Late Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene, with the youngest reliable dates around 39,000 years ago. It was the last surviving member of Elasmotheriinae, a distinctive group of rhinoceroses separate from the group that contains living rhinoceros (Rhinocerotinae).[2]
Five species are recognised. The genus first appeared in the Late Miocene in present-day China, likely having evolved from Sinotherium, before spreading to the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.[3] The best known Elasmotherium species, E. sibiricum, sometimes called the Siberian unicorn,[4] was the size of a mammoth and is often conjectured to have borne a single very large horn. However, no horn has ever been found, and other authors have conjectured that the horn was likely much smaller. Like all rhinoceroses, elasmotheres were herbivorous. Unlike any other rhinos and any other ungulates aside from some notoungulates, its high-crowned molars were ever-growing, and it was likely adapted for a grazing diet. Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were adapted for galloping, giving it a horse-like gait.
^"Elasmotherium". PaleoBiology Database: Basic info. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. 2000. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
^Cite error: The named reference Kosintsev2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Schvyreva, A.K. (August 2015). "On the importance of the representatives of the genus Elasmotherium (Rhinocerotidae, Mammalia) in the biochronology of the Pleistocene of Eastern Europe". Quaternary International. 379: 128–134. Bibcode:2015QuInt.379..128S. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.03.052.
^Kosintsev, Pavel; et al. (2019). "Evolution and extinction of the giant rhinoceros Elasmotherium sibiricum sheds light on late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions". Nature Ecology and Evolution. 3 (1): 31–38. doi:10.1038/s41559-018-0722-0. hdl:11370/78889dd1-9d08-40f1-99a4-0e93c72fccf3. PMID 30478308. S2CID 53726338.
Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during Late Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene, with the youngest reliable...
Last Glacial Period: the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), Elasmotherium sibiricum and two species of Stephanorhinus, Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus...
Miocene (Tortonian - Messinian) to Early Pliocene. It was ancestral to Elasmotherium, demonstrating a very important evolutionary transition from nasal-horned...
position, similar to its fossil relative Stephanorhinus hemitoechus and Elasmotherium as well as the white rhinoceros. Strong muscles on its long occipital...
tigers. Al-mi'raj (unicorn-like creature in Arabic mythology) Bestiary Elasmotherium (extinct rhinoceros species known as "Siberian unicorn") Invisible Pink...
extinct at the end of the ice ages, including American horses and the Elasmotherium. Whether over-hunting by humans (overkill hypothesis), climatic change...
keratin, of the protein type that makes up hair and fingernails. The Elasmotherium is an extinct species, although overlapping populations with humans...
the Taman Peninsula). At Bogatyri/Sinyaya balka [ru], in a skull of Elasmotherium caucasicum, which lived 1.5–1.2 million years ago, a stone tool was...
Some prehistoric horned rhinos also grew to large sizes. The biggest Elasmotherium reached up to 5–5.2 m (16–17 ft) long, 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) high and weighed...
which can range up to a weight of 4,000 kg (8,800 lb). The extinct Elasmotherium sibricum was the largest rhino to ever exist. It stood approximately...
the Elasmotherium. A wooden sculpture of a charging bull-like creature with a huge single horn, similar to modern reconstructions of the Elasmotherium, was...
Eurasia describing creatures such as the unicorn may have been based upon Elasmotherium, a rhinoceros believed to have been extinct for up to 50,000 years.[original...
belonged to the subfamily Elasmotheriinae and was a relative of the later Elasmotherium, which was widespread over large parts of northern Asia in the Pleistocene...
bovids (Bison, Leptobos, Gazellospira and Pontoceros), rhinocerotids (Elasmotherium and Stephanorhinus), a camel (Paracamelus), the southern mammoth, a...
coexised alongside C. knoblochi include mammoths, Merck's rhinoceros, Elasmotherium, Irish elk, steppe bison, saiga antelope, wolves and red deer. Isotopic...
musth comes, looking for females ready to mate. He sees an adult male Elasmotherium by the snowmobile. It is downwind from him, but there is a risk of it...
Iranotherium and the clade formed by Parelasmotherium, Ningxiatherium and Elasmotherium, while all other African elasmotheriines occupy more basal positions...
the Elasmotherium Orphnoch. Despite being mortally wounded, Kaido confesses his feelings to Osada before mounting a failed attack on the Elasmotherium Orphnoch...
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