Page 147 - Prehistoric Animals

U-In-Tath-Er-E-Um

Uintatherium

Uintatherium (Beast of Uinta) is an extinct genus of herbivo-
rous mammal that lived during the Eocene epoch; 56 to 38 million
years ago. It had a body length of about 4 metres, was approximate-
ly 1.5 metres in height and weighed in around 2 tonnes. The genus
name, Uintatherium was coined by, Joseph Leidy in 1872, and to
date there is only two recognised species of this genus; U. anceps
(USA) and U. insperatus (China). However, due to a disregard for
the naming protocol by their finders, many fossils were misnamed
or mismatched which led to dubious species being added to the ge-
nus. Although they may still be listed as members of the genus they
are not yet officially recognised.

Uintatherium was a large browsing quadruped, with a body
shape often likened to that of the modern day rhinoceros. However,
it is not considered related to the Rhino. To support its heavy
weight it had four thick powerful legs with large hoofed feet. Meas-
uring around 30 inches long it had a large and very distinctive head.
Sprouting from the front of its head were three pair of bony growths
or ossicones around 9 to 10 inches long. The first pair was on the tip
of the snout, the second between the eyes and the nostrils and the
third at the back of the head. The purpose of these bony protrusions
is unknown, though there are several speculative suggestions. To
add to this unusual head, Uintatherium, had two long curved inci-
sor teeth protruding from its upper jaw, similar to those of the sa-
bretooth cat. As an herbivore and its jaws lined with the standard
herbivore’s teeth, it was difficult, at first, for people to work out why
it would need these long curved incisors. However, today, it’s gener-
ally accepted it used them as some sort of digging tool or for ripping
out stubborn vegetation.

When first unearthed, Uintatherium was hailed as a great
and important discovery. However, as the years have drifted by it
has slowly slipped almost into obscurity. The reason being, perhaps;
it just doesn’t seem to fit comfortably on any branch of the Darwini-
an tree of life. It just doesn’t seem to belong anywhere and like most
of these orphaned prehistoric animals has been marginalized in fa-
vour of those species that fit comfortably into the chronological pat-
tern and one that matches the theory of life and its transition. How-
ever, when Uintatherium roamed the planet it clearly had an intelli-
gent understanding of its environment and contrary to the often de-
rogatory remarks* written about its level of intelligence, it managed
to stay active and healthy for 15 million years. Its eventual disap-
pearance, sadly, was not caused by any catastrophic event that
drove it into extinction, but possibly (no one really knows) by its in-
ability to change or adapt in a world that is forever changing.

*Possibly prompted because it doesn’t fit in to the theory of evolution, an d some
would rather see it forgotten. ,as not worthy of attention