Elasmotherium
Scientific Classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Subfamily: Elasmotheriinae
Genus: Elasmotherium
Type Species: Elasmotherium sibiricum
Described by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim, 1808
Common Names: One-horned Woolly Rhino, One-horned Woolly Rhinoceros, Unicorn, and Siberian Unicorn.
Other Species:
-Elasmotherium caucasicum
-Elasmotherium chaprovicum
-Elasmotherium peii
-Elasmotherium primigenium
Synonyms:
-Stereoceros
-Enigmatherium
-Elasmotherium fischeri = Elasmotherium sibiricum
-Elasmotherium inexpectatum = Elasmotherium caucasicum
Current Park Population: (7; all adults; 1 male, 6 female)
Park Diet: Grasses, bushes, mosses, flowers, elephant feed, horse feed, rhinoceros feed, tapir feed, and soft rocks.
Natural Diet: Grasses, bushes, mosses, flowers, and soft rocks.
Lifespan: Fifth Years.
Habitat: Seasonal snowy areas with large amounts of food during Spring and forest clearings, Mammoth Steppe.
Native Ecosystem: Europe and Asia, Late Miocene to Late Pleistocene, 7–0.039 Ma
Breeding Season: March to May
Gestation Period: A year and a half.
Number of Young: One calf, rarely Twins.
Danger Level: 8 out of 10.
Park Star Rating: 4 Stars.
Summary: There were two types of Woolly Rhinoceros during the Ice Age. The Two-horned Coleodonta and the One-horned Elasmotherium. Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during the Late Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene, with the youngest reliable dates around 39,000 years ago. It was the last surviving member of Elasmotheriinae, a distinctive group of rhinoceroses separate from the group that contains living rhinoceros (Rhinocerotinae).
Five species are recognized. The genus first appeared in the Late Miocene in present-day China, likely having evolved from Sinotherium, before spreading to the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The best known Elasmotherium species, E. sibiricum, sometimes called the Siberian unicorn, was the size of a mammoth and is often conjectured to have borne a single very large horn. However, no horn has ever been found, and other authors have conjectured that the horn was likely much smaller. Like all rhinoceroses, elasmotheres were herbivorous. Unlike any other rhinos and any other ungulates aside from some notoungulates, its high-crowned molars were ever-growing, and it was likely adapted for a grazing diet. Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were adapted for galloping, giving it a horse-like gait.
"Bubbles did an illustration of herself hugging an Elasmotherium thinking it's a real-life Unicorn much to the dismay of her sisters, Blossom and Buttercup."
Taxonomy: Elasmotherium was first described in 1809 by German/Russian paleontologist Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim based on a left lower jaw, four molars, and the tooth root of the third premolar, which was gifted to Moscow University by Princess Ekaterina Dashkova in 1807. He first announced it at an 1808 presentation before the Moscow Society of Naturalists. The genus name derives from Ancient Greek elasmos "laminated" and therion "beast" about the laminated folding of the tooth enamel, and the species name sibericus is probably a reference to the predominantly Siberian origin of Princess Dashkova's collection. However, the specimen's exact origins are unknown. In 1877, German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt placed it into the newly erected subfamily Elasmotheriinae, separate from modern rhinos. In 1997, the McKenna/Bell classification considered Elasmotherium to be closely related to the wooly and modern rhinos and placed it into the subfamily Rhinocerotinae. A complete mitochondrial genome obtained from a specimen of E. sibiricum vindicated von Brandt, finding it to be the sister taxon to all living rhinoceroses, with an estimated divergence time of 47.4 million years ago, with a 95% highest posterior density of 41.9–53.2 Ma.
The genus is known from hundreds of find sites, mainly of cranial fragments and teeth, but in some cases nearly complete skeletons of post-cranial bones, scattered over Eurasia from Eastern Europe to China. Dozens of crania have been reconstructed and given archaeological identifiers. The division into species is based mainly on the fine distinctions of the teeth and jaws and the shape of the skull.
Evolution: Rhinoceroses are divided into two subfamilies, Rhinocerotinae and Elasmotheriinae, which diverged perhaps 47.3 mya, 35 mya at the latest. Elasmotherium is the only known member of the latter from after the Miocene, others becoming extinct with the expansion of savannas. The oldest known species of Elasmotherium is Elasmotherium primigenium from the Late Miocene of Dingbian County in Shaanxi, China. Elasmotherium likely evolved from Sinotherium, a genus of elasmothere also found in China. Elasmotherium arrived in Eastern Europe around 2.5 million years ago, during the earliest part of the Pleistocene epoch.
Hypsodonty, a dentition pattern where the molars have high crowns and the enamel extends below the gum line, is thought to be a characteristic of Elasmotheriinae, perhaps as an adaptation to the heavier grains featured in riparian zones on riversides.
Species: There are four chronospecies of Elasmotherium aside from the aforementioned E. primigenium, which are - from oldest to youngest - E. chaprovicum, E. peii, E. caucasicum, and E. sibiricum, and which together span from the Late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene.
An elasmotherian species turned up in the preceding Khaprovian or Khaprov Faunal Complex, which was at first taken to be E. caucasicum, and then based on the dentition was redefined as a new species, E. chaprovicum (Shvyreva, 2004), named after the Khaprov Faunal Complex.[8] The Khaprov is in the Middle Villafranchian, MN17, which spans the Piacenzian of the Late Pliocene and the Gelasian of the Early Pleistocene of Northern Caucasus, Moldova and Asia and has been dated to 2.6–2.2 Ma.
E. peii was first described by (Chow, 1958) for remains found in Shaanxi, China.[16] Additional remains from Shaanxi were described in 2018. The species is also known from numerous remains from the classical range of Elasmotherium, some sources have considered this species to be a synonym of E. caucasicum, but it is currently considered distinct. it is found during the Psekups faunal complex between 2.2 and 1.6 Ma.
E. caucasicum was first described by Russian paleontologist Aleksei Borissiak in 1914, who said it flourished in the Black Sea region as a member of the Early Pleistocene Tamanian Faunal Unit (1.1–0.8 Ma, Taman Peninsula). It is the most commonly found mammal of the assemblage. E. caucasicum is thought to be more primitive than E. sibiricum and perhaps represents an ancestral stock. It is also known in northern China from the Early Pleistocene Nihewan Faunal assemblage and was extinct at approximately 1.6 Ma. This suggests that Elasmotherium developed separately in Russia and China.
Paleolithic art from Rouffignac Cave, France interpreted as Elasmotherium.
E. sibiricum, described by Johann Fischer von Waldheim in 1808 and chronologically the latest species of the sequence appeared in the Middle Pleistocene, ranging from southwestern Russia to western Siberia and southward into Ukraine and Moldova.
Description: They are covered in brown fur in some individuals, their tops are mostly dark brown or grayish brown grading to a normal brown, and a boss-like short horn.
Elasmotherium is typically reconstructed as a woolly animal, generally based on the woolliness exemplified in contemporary megafauna such as mammoths and the woolly rhino. However, it is sometimes depicted as bare-skinned like modern rhinos. In 1948, Russian paleontologist Valentin Teryaev suggested it was semi-aquatic with a dome-like horn, and resembled a hippo because the animal had 4 toes like a wetland tapir rather than the 3 toes in other rhinos, but Elasmotherium has since been shown to have had only 3 functional toes, and Teryaev's reconstruction has not garnered much scientific attention.
Dentition: Like other rhinos, Elasmotherium had two premolars and three molars for chewing, and lacked incisors and canines, relying instead on a prehensile lip to strip food. Elasmotherium were euhypsodonts, with large tooth crowns and enamel extending below the gum line, and continuously growing teeth.
Elasmotherium fossils rarely show evidence of tooth roots.
Size: The known specimens of E. sibiricum reach up to 4.5 m (15 ft) in length, with shoulder heights up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in), while E. caucasicum reaches at least 5 m (16 ft) in body length with an estimated mass of 3.5–5 tonnes (3.9–5.5 short tons), making Elasmotherium the largest rhinos of the Quaternary. Both species were among the largest rhinos, comparable in size to the woolly mammoth and larger than the contemporary woolly rhinoceros. The feet were unguligrade, the front larger than the rear, with 3 digits at the front and rear, with a vestigial fifth metacarpal.
Horn: Elasmotherium is traditionally thought to have had a keratinous horn, indicated by a circular dome on the forehead, with a 13-centimeter (5-inch) deep, furrowed surface, and a circumference of 90 cm (3 feet). The furrows are interpreted as the seats of blood vessels for horn-generating tissue.
In rhinos, the horn is not attached to bone, but grows from the surface of dense skin tissue, anchoring itself by creating bone irregularities and rugosities. The outermost layer cornifies. As the layers age, the horn loses diameter by degradation of the keratin due to ultraviolet light, drying out, and continual wearing. However, melanin and calcium deposits in the center harden the keratin there, which gives the horn its distinctive shape.
There was likely a large hump of muscle on the back, which is generally thought to have supported a heavy horn.
A 2021 study challenges assumptions of Elasmotherium having had a horn by comparing its cranial dome and neck musculature to those of modern rhinos. The study finds that both are ill-suited for a large horn and more likely are indicative of a smaller horn, and that the dome could function as a resonating chamber of some sort, akin to that of Rusingoryx and hadrosaur crests.
Distribution and Habitat: Elamsotheriums live in Mammoth Steppes and Riparian Riversides, from southwestern Russia and Ukraine to Kazakhstan and Siberia. It lived in some areas alongside the other rhinoceroses Stephanorhinus and Coelodontas. The Team encountered the crash of Elasmotheriums in Poland which is far from their natural range.
Paleobiology:
Social Behavior: Elasmotheriums generally lived alone or in a kind of primitive form of a herd, where the animals would occasionally gather together for no apparent reason other than to perhaps remember the scents of each other and defend the calves the females have. Males generally stay away from the groups when another male is already there, trying to avoid any unnecessary fighting. Elasmotherium tends to be more solitary occasionally in small crashes than the Woolly Rhinoceros.
Diet: Modern hypsodont hoofed mammals are generally grazers of open environments, with hypsodonty possibly an adaptation to chewing tough, fibrous grass. Elasmotherium dental wearing is similar to that of the grazing white rhino, and both of their heads have a downward orientation, indicating a similar lifestyle and an ability to only reach low-lying plants. The head of Elasmotherium had the most obtuse angle of any rhinoceros, and could only reach the lowest levels and therefore must have grazed habitually. Elasmotherium also displays euhypsodonty, which is typically seen in rodents, and dental physiology could have been influenced by pulling up food from moist, grainy soil. Therefore, they may have inhabited both mammoth steppe land and riparian riversides, similar to contemporary mammoths.
Reproduction: During the breeding season, male Elasmotjeriums will gather together in clearings or grasslands and fight each other for the ever-growing masses of females that watch them fight. The winners of the fights get the females, while the more injured losers are often picked off by the ravenous hoards of cave hyenas or the small pride of cave lions that skirted around the sides. The elder Bull would make sure younger bulls don't challenge his rank even outside the breeding season. Due to their boss-like horns other than using their horns to fight, Elasmotherium would also bite each other in the face.
Movement: Elasmotherium had similar running limbs to the white rhinoceros–which run at 30 km/h (19 mph) with a top speed of 40–45 km/h (25–28 mph). However, Elasmotherium had double the weight–about 5 t (5.5 short tons)–and consequently had a more restricted gait and mobility, likely achieving much slower speeds. Elephants, weighing 2.5–11 t (2.8–12.1 short tons), cannot exceed a speed of 20 km/h (12 mph).
Interactions with other species: Elasmotherium have little to no predators. The few animals that would even consider attacking them are desperate cave lions and furious cave bears. Injured losers during the mating seasons are preyed upon by clans of Cave Hyenas and Small Prides of Cave Lions. Cave Wolves and Cave Leopards avoid Woolly Rhinos.
Elasmotherium co-exist alongside Wisent, Saiga, Antelopes, Eurasian Elk or Moose, Woolly Mammoths, Aurochs, Woolly Rhinoceros, Tarpan, Steppe Bison, European Wild Donkey, and Megaloceros in the Mammoth Steppes. They normally graze on the grass alongside one another peacefully. There have been confrontations with Woolly Mammoths especially Males in Musth.
Birds like Common Ravens collect molted fur of Elasmotherium, Woolly Rhino. or Mammoth to build their nests and Little Egrets follow the rhinos eating ticks and other parasites off of them. They also eat insects disturbed by the feet of large herbivores like them and warn their Woolly Companions of danger.
Early European Modern Humans and Neanderthals would hunt the Rhinos if they could and they only take what they need. Elasmotherium were intolerant of anything that followed them for too long, perceiving them to be either an annoyance or threat. This often led to the deaths of many children who didn't heed their parent's directions to stay in the village and stay away from rhinos. They were often killed by rhinos, knowing that one predator or annoyance killed now was one less in the future. The exceptions to this "kill rule" were birds, baby animals, parents going to retrieve them, rodents, and foxes.
Apemen are able to hunt them as well, taking advantage of the Rhino's poor eyesight and better sense of Hearing and smell. The charging rhino would then be wrestled and speared to death by the apemen.
Extinction: Elasmotherium was previously thought to have gone extinct around 200,000 years ago as part of normal extinction, but E. sibiricum skull fragments from the Pavlodar Region, Kazakhstan, show its persistence in the Western Siberian Plain about 36,000–35,000 years ago. Isolated remains dating to 50,000 years ago are known from the Siberian Smelovskaya and Batpak Caves, likely dragged there by a predator.
This timing is roughly coincident with the Pleistocene extinction, during which many mammal species with body weights 45 kg died out. This coincided with a shift to a cooler climate–which resulted in the replacement of grasses and herbs by lichens and mosses–and the migration of modern humans into the area.
Danger Tip: Elasmotherium just like Modern-day Rhinos. They have very poor eyesight, but they have a great sense of Smell and Hearing. If you don't stand downwind or make a sound, the Rhino will charge and thrust its horns at you causing severe injury.
Reintroduction Project: Elasmotherium are candidates to be reintroduced to the wild, although it would take thousands or millions of acres to house a single herd. Luckily, Pleistocene Park in Russia was made simply because of a project like Project Pleistocene (woolly mammoths and such). Once Elasmotherium populations are high enough, several individuals will be sent over to see how they react. If all goes well, more rhinos, alongside several other animals like Woolly Mammoths and Rhinoceros will be sent over.
Significant Events: On the First day of the Team's Second Mission, the Team encounters a Crash of Elasmotherium at the bottom of a hill grazing through the snow alongside herds of Roe Deer and a Sounder of Wild Boars. Finn and Jake send the Elasmotherium crash to the park. They now reside in Ice Age Mount.
Mammoth Steppe: With Project Pleistocene hoping to take place once the Elasmotherium population has built up enough, a population of several animals will be sent to Pleistocene Park to hopefully create a semi-wild breeding population.
They live in the Mammoth Steppe Habitat of the Ice Age Mount Zone. The enclosures are equipped with climate technology like ice climate fences to regulate the cold temperate of the ice age. It is mostly grassland with a large lake. The Elasmotherium live alongside the Woolly Mammoths, Steppe Bison, Aurochs, Tarpan, European Wild Ass or Donkeys, Woolly Rhinoceros, Modern Day European Bison or Wisent, and Saiga Antelopes.
Elasmotherium can be a very temperamental and territorial species that are much more different than one would expect them to be from modern rhinoceros species. These normally tough animals do have a softer side though. They learn to eventually recognize their keepers and come running up to the fence whenever they see them. They quite enjoy having their shaggy fur brushed or washed, as insects often get caught in their fur. In the wild, a still extant bird, the little egret.
Notable Individual:
Kifaru: An adult Male Elasmotherium.
Conclusion: Elasmotherium is one of the most unusual Megafauna of the Ice Age Mammoth Steppes of Eurasia. They are a true living Unicorn of Siberian and little girls who love Unicorns would come to appreciate this chubby one horned woolly Beast here at Prehistoric Park.
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