page_title: Elasmotherium
section_title: Movement
hierarchical_section_title: Elasmotherium / Palaeobiology / Movement
caption_attribution_description: English: Elasmotherium caucasicum
context_page_description: Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during the Late Pliocene through the Pleistocene, existing from 2.6 Ma to at least as late as 39,000 years ago in the Late Pleistocene. A more recent date of 26,000 BP is considered less reliable. It was the last surviving member of Elasmotheriinae, a distinctive group of rhinoceroses that had separated from the ancestry of living rhinoceroses by at least 35 million years ago according to fossils and estimated around 47.4 million years ago based on molecular clock.
  Four species are recognised, which were largely confined to the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The best known, E. sibiricum, known as the Siberian unicorn, was the size of a mammoth and is thought to have borne a large, thick horn on its forehead. 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. Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were adapted for galloping, giving it a horse-like gait.
context_section_description: 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).
caption: E. caucasicum reconstructed without hair
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