page_title: Sivatherium
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Sivatherium / Description
caption_attribution_description: Sivatherium reconstruction
context_page_description: Sivatherium is an extinct genus of giraffids that ranged throughout Africa to the Indian subcontinent. The species Sivatherium giganteum is, by weight, one of the largest giraffid known, and also one of the largest ruminants of all time. The Afro-Asiatic species, S. maurusium, was once placed within the genus "Libytherium".
  Sivatherium originated during the Late Miocene in Africa and survived through to the late Early Pleistocene S. giganteum remains have been recovered from the Himalayan foothills, dating around 1 million years ago. Suggestions have been made that S. maurusium may have gone extinct as recently as 8,000 years ago, as depictions that resemble it are known from ancient rock paintings in the Sahara and Central West India. But these claims are not substantiated by fossil evidence, and the depictions likely represent other animals.
context_section_description: Sivatherium resembled the modern okapi, but was far larger, and more heavily built, being  about 2.2 m (7.2 ft) tall at the shoulder, 3 m (9.8 ft) in total height with a weight up to 400–500 kg (880–1,100 lb). A newer estimate has come up with an estimated body mass of about 1,250 kg (2,760 lb). This would make Sivatherium one of the largest known ruminants, rivalling the modern giraffe and the largest bovines. This weight estimate is thought to be an underestimate, as it does not take into account the large horns possessed by males of the species. Sivatherium had a wide, antler-like pair of ossicones on its head, and a second pair of ossicones above its eyes. Its shoulders were very powerful to support the neck muscles required to lift the heavy skull.
caption: Outdated moose-like restoration
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