Indricotheriidae

Indricotheriidae 

a family of extinct giant rhinoceroses, inhabiting Eurasia during the Oligocene. The best-studied is the widely distributed genus Indricotherium from the Middle Oligocene in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. The trunk of the Indricotheriidae was short; the legs were long, straight, and tridactyl, with a strongly developed middle digit. The head was small, without horns, and the neck was long. At the end of the snout there was one pair each of small upper and lower tusks (enlarged incisors). The cheek teeth were of primitive structure. The Indricotheriidae were the tallest and largest terrestrial mammals, measuring up to 5 m tall. They fed on the leaves and branches of shrubs and trees. The Indricotheriidae became extinct at the end of the Oligocene or beginning of the Miocene.

REFERENCES

Borisiak, A. A. “O rode Indricotherium n. g. (sm. Rhinocerotidae).” Petrograd, 1923. (Zapiski Rossiiskoi AN, vol. 35, no. 6.)
Osnovy Paleonlologii. Mlekopitaiushchie. Moscow, 1962.