| Paraceratherium | |
|---|---|
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| An artist's illustration of Pareceratherium transouralicum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | †Paraceratheriidae |
| Subfamily: | †Paraceratheriinae |
| Genus: | †Paraceratherium Forster-Cooper, 1911 |
| Type species | |
| †Paraceratherium bugtiense Pilgrim, 1908 | |
| Referred species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Genus synonymy
Species synonymy
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Paraceratherium, also known as "Indricotherium", is a large, extinct hornless rhinoceros. It was an herbivore that lived in the forests of central Asia between 34 and 23 million years ago, weighed as much as three or four adult African elephants.
Paraceratherium fossils – found by Roy Chapman Andrews, a young scientist from the American Museum of Natural History, in Mongolia in 1922 – indicate this giant was one of the largest land mammals ever. Weighing as much as 20 tons as an adult, Paraceratherium could stretch its long neck to nibble leaves high in the treetops of the central Asian forests.
Needing to eat massive amounts of vegetation to survive, Paraceratherium suffered as the central Asian forests were replaced by grassland habitats causing this huge mammal to become extinct. Paraceratherium is one of the largest land mammals known, larger than the largest species of mammoths (Mammuthus trogontherii, which may have approached it in size and weight), but still not as heavy as Palaeoloxodon namadicus, which was 2 tons heavier at 22 tons. It is also known as the "giraffe rhinoceros". Adult Paraceratherium are estimated to have been 5.5 metres (18 ft) tall at the shoulder, 9 metres (30 ft) in length from nose to rump, a maximum raised head height of about 8 metres (26 ft), and a skull length of 1.5 metres (4.9 ft). Weight estimates vary greatly, but most realistic and reliable weight estimates are about 20 tonnes. This puts it in the weight range of some medium-sized sauropod dinosaurs.
Taxonomy[]
The taxonomic history of Paraceratherium is complex due to the fragmentary nature of the known fossils and because Western, Soviet, and Chinese scientists worked in isolation from each other for much of the 20th century and published research mainly in their respective languages. But despite this, scientists currently place it as a perissodactyl in the family Paraceratheriidae, in which it is the type genus for its family and subfamily.
Description[]
A model of a Paraceratherium at the American Museum of Natural History
Paraceratherium was one of the largest land mammals ever, weighing four times that of a modern elephant and twice that of the largest known mammoth. It's head was small compared to its enormous body which was supported by three toes on each foot (much like the rhinoceros of today). Using two teeth on its upper jaw and two on its lower jaw, the Paraceratherium was able to graze on trees more than 26 ft high. Remains have been found in Baluchitherium (Pakistan) which the animal is sometimes referred to as. Paraceratherium is also known as Baluchitherium or Indricotherium and Paraceratheres. It looks mostly like a large horse but actually it is more closely related to modern Rhinoceros.
A newer species of Paraceratherium: the Paraceratherium linxiaense has been officially identified at 2021. The newly-identified rhino species lived during the Oligocene epoch, around 26.5 million years ago. The Paraceratherium linxiaense belongs to Paraceratherium, a small genus of extinct hornless rhinos. The giant rhino has been considered as one of the largest land mammals that ever lived. Its skull and legs are longer than all reported land mammals, but the metapodials (long bones of the hand and feet) are not massive in outline.[1]
Its body size was suitable for open woodlands under humid or arid climatic conditions. Except for some remains found in Eastern Europe, Anatolia, and the Caucasus, giant rhinos lived mainly in Asia, especially in China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. All forms of the giant rhino, including six genera, have been recorded from northwest to southwest China through the Middle Eocene to the Late Oligocene. The genus Paraceratherium was the most widely distributed form of the giant rhino, but aside from East and Central Asia, many records from East Europe and West Asia comprise fragmentary specimens. Only P. bugtiense, known from the southwestern corner of the Tibetan Plateau, has ample records and undoubtable taxa identity and is key to the origin and dispersal history of Paraceratherium.[2]
Paleobiology[]
It was a herbivore that stripped leaves from trees with its down-pointing, tusk-like upper teeth that occluded forward-pointing lower teeth. It had a long, low, hornless skull and vaulted frontal and nasal bones. Its front teeth were reduced to a single pair of incisors in either jaw, but they were conical and so large that they looked like small tusks. The upper incisors pointed straight downwards, while the lower ones jutted outwards. The upper lip was evidently extremely mobile. The neck was very long, the trunk robust, and the limbs long and thick, column-like. Its type of dentition, its mobile upper lip and its long legs and neck indicate that it was a browser that lived on the leaves and twigs of trees and large shrubs. The British zoologist Robert M. Alexander suggested in 1988 that overheating may have been a serious problem in Paraceratherium due to its size.
Distribution and habitat[]
Remains assignable to Paraceratherium have been found in early to late Oligocene (34–23 million years ago) formations across Eurasia, in modern-day China, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Balkans.
Extinction[]
The reasons Paraceratherium became extinct after surviving for about 11 million years are unknown, but it is unlikely that there was a single cause.
In the Media[]
- Paraceratherium was seen in a 1981 Stop Motion documentary called Mark D. Wolf's Age of Mammals under its' name "Baluchitherum".
- It was also seen in Walking with Beasts under the now-invalid name of "Indricotherium". A mother and calf serve as the main characters.
- It also appears in a documentary Life After Dinosaurs by National Geographic.
- It also appears in Top 10 Biggest Beasts ever on National Geographic later re titled as Worlds Biggest Beast on The Smithsonian Channel.
- It also appears in Jurassic Park Builder under the name "Indricotherium".
- It also appears in ARK: Survival Evolved.
- Paraceratherium is a Legendary Savannah creature that can be created in Jurassic World: The Game under its' junior synonym Indricotherium.
- Paraceratherium also appeared in an Arcade Game called Big Buck HD wild.
- Paraceratherium was added to Prehistoric Kingdom in update 6 with skins for P. transouralicum, P. bugtiense, and it's close relative: Juxia.