Page 31 - Prehistoric Animals

Selo-Don-Ta. Anti-Qui-T a -Tis

Coelodonta antiquitatis

(Woolly Rhino)

The Woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta (Hollow tooth)
antiquitatis) is an extinct species of rhinoceros. It
lived in the Pleistocene epoch until the end of the last
glacial period around 11 to 12,000 years ago. Its re-
mains, some remarkably well preserved, have been
found in North America, Europe and Asia. This rhino
was a herbivore, and stood 6 to 9ft tall and was about
15ft in length, with a body weight of around 1 to 3
tonnes. It had short stubby legs and its body was
covered in a thick reddish fur. Its front shoulder rose
in a large hump which seems to swooped down to
support its head and its two massive horns; one large
front keratin horn, about 2 meters long, and a small
one, half the size, behind, near its eyes.

Over the century’s mythical creatures have long been
associated with bones of the Woolly Rhino. In Sibe-
ria, horns unearth were thought to be claws of a giant
predatory bird. In the 1300 a skull was said to be
that of a Dragon, and in 1500 a skull was mistaken
for a head of a Lindworm. It wasn’t until around the
1700, when a complete scull with horns was found
that it was finally recognised for what it was; a rhi-
noceros. Since then it’s undergone a couple of differ-
ent name designations but was finally given its pre-
sent-day name by Heinrich Georg Bronn in, 1831. Up
to that point, although cave drawings, by ancient
man, were known and studied, and many bones of
the Woolly rhino had been unearthed, very little was
known about it. That all changed, however, when a
near complete body was found preserved in Poland.
Only then did people realise what a unique and mag-
nificent animal the woolly rhino had been.

Today a great deal is known about the Woolly rhino;
however, it has never really ignited the public’s imag-
ination, like the very popular Woolly Mammoth. It
looks as though, the Woolly Rhino, like so many oth-
er members of the Pleistocene megafauna, is des-
tined to remain in the shadows.