Estemmenosuchus | |
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A restoration of Estemmenosuchus uralensis | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
clade: | Synapsida |
Order: | Therapsida |
Suborder: | †Dinocephalia |
Family: | †Estemmenosuchidae |
Genus: | †Estemmenosuchus Tchudinov, 1960 |
Referred species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Estemmenosuchus is a omnivorous Therapsid from middle Permian Russia. Roughly 2–3 m in length, it was a herbivore. It had rounded, smoothly interlocking teeth with which it cropped the Permian vegetation, and a series of strange bumps and outcroppings on its head - the scientists believe that it used them in fights for females and territory. Estemmenosuchus was either a semi-aquatic animal like the modern hippopotamus, or fully terrestrial, like a rhinoceros.