Elasmotherium

Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of very large rhinoceros that lived in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Asia from the late Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene, until at least 39,000 years ago. It was the last surviving member of the subfamily Elasmotheriinae, a formerly diverse group of rhinoceroses separate from the subfamily Rhinocerotinae, that contains all living rhinoceroses.

Elasmotherium

Altes · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ElasmotheriiniPBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Rhinocerotidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rhinocerotidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Length
5 mWikidata
Mass
4.5 tonneWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 1.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 774 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 14 occurrencesPliocene — about 4 of 14 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 14 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 0 of 14 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence194 ka–0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.58 Mya774 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

14 occurrences of Elasmotherium on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

14 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Khapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Elasmotherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Elasmotherium and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Elasmotherium and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

130 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 14 sites for Elasmotherium, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

8 references

Each of the 14 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Elasmotherium

Credit
Altes
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Elasmotherium chaprovicum · PIN RAS:PIN:5644/3054

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itElasmotheriini through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Fischer 1808