Woolly Rhinoceros

Woolly Rhinoceros 

(Coelodonta antiquitatis), an extinct odd-toed ungulate of the family Rhinocerotidae. The woolly rhinoceros was larger than modern rhinoceroses (its height at the shoulders was more than 2 m), and it was covered with thick, woolly hair. The body was massive, with a fatty hump on the neck and two horns on the head—one on the nose (up to 1 m long) and one farther back on the forehead (significantly shorter). The woolly rhinoceros and the mammoth inhabited the tundra and forest tundra, feeding on grasses, pine needles, shrubs, and the shoots of young trees. In the late Pleistocene epoch the woolly rhinoceros was distributed throughout Europe (with the exception of the extreme southern areas) and northern Asia. In the permafrost mountain rocks of Eastern Siberia, bones and even carcasses of woolly rhinoceroses have been found, covered with dark brown fur. Two carcasses without hair were found in the western Ukraine in clayey sands saturated with oil. Late Stone Age man hunted the woolly rhinoceros. Rock paintings of the animal have been preserved.

REFERENCE

Gekker, R. F. Razvitie zhizni na zemle: Al’bom nagliadnykh posobii. Moscow, 1947.

B. A. TROFIMOV