Showing posts with label Paraceratherium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paraceratherium. Show all posts

Friday, 16 August 2019

Wikipedia article of the day for August 17, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for August 17, 2019 is Paraceratherium.
Paraceratherium was a hornless rhinoceros, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed. The genus lived during most of the Oligocene epoch (34–23 million years ago); its remains have been found across Eurasia between China and the Balkans. Its weight is estimated to have been 15 to 20 tonnes (33,000 to 44,000 lb); the shoulder height was about 4.8 metres (15.7 feet), and the length about 7.4 metres (24.3 feet). The legs were long and pillar-like. The long neck supported a skull that was about 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) long. It had large, tusk-like incisors and a nasal incision that suggests it had a prehensile upper lip or trunk. The lifestyle of Paraceratherium may have been similar to that of large mammals such as elephants and modern rhinoceroses. It was a browser, eating mainly leaves, soft plants, and shrubs. It lived in habitats ranging from arid deserts with scattered trees to subtropical forests.