Elasmotherium

## Physiology

### Description

Giant woolly rhinoceros, twice the size of modern rhinos, with a human-sized horn

### Attributes

Large size; thick fur coat; giant single horn on head; highly aggressive; poor eyesight

## Biography

### Locations

Eurasia

***Elasmotherium*** (name meaning "*Thin Plate Beast*"), often nicknamed the ***Siberian Unicorn*** or the ***Big-Horned Rhinoceros***, is a genus of large rhinoceros that originated during the Late Miocene epoch in what is now Eurasia. Perhaps the largest Ice Age woolly rhinoceros, measuring five meters long and weighing five tons, *Elasmotherium* is famous for its single large horn on its head.

In the Series 3 finale "***Mammoth's Undertaking Journey***", a large male *Elasmotherium* was brought to the park from Late Pleistocene Siberia 150,000 years ago. It resides in the Mammoth Tundra Enclosure with a recently rescued female in hopes to mate and give birth to a healthy calf.

## Facts

### Era & Discovery

*Elasmotherium* lived throughout Eurasia during the Late Pliocene epoch around 2.5 million years ago. It shared its environments with animals like the *Woolly Mammoth*. Around 26,000 years ago during the Late Pleistocene, *Elasmotherium* became extinct when the climates got warmer and their natural habitats disappeared as well as being overhunted by humans such as Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals.

*Elasmotherium* received its name from Johann Fischer von Waldheim, the Dirécteur Perpétuel of the Natural History Museum, Moscow University, at a presentation before the Societé Impériale des Naturalistes in 1808.

### Physical Description

The largest of all the prehistoric rhinoceroses during the Pleistocene epoch, *Elasmotherium* reached up to 16 feet (5 m) long in body length with shoulder heights over 6 feet (2 m) and an estimated weight of 5 – 6 tons (11,000 – 13,000 lbs.) based on isolated molars that significantly exceed those known from the Siberian species, making *Elasmotherium* was among the largest in the rhino family, comparable in size to a Woolly Mammoth and larger than the contemporary woolly rhinoceros *Coelodonta*.

*Elasmotherium* was twice the size of a modern white rhinoceros and had a massive, fatty hump on its back. *Elasmotherium* was the size of an African elephant and bore a large, thick horn on its forehead which was used for defense, attracting mates, driving away predators, sweeping snow from the grass in winter, and digging for water and plant roots. The single horn itself was slightly curved, and could grow to be over 6 feet (2 m) long, taller than a man, and is also known to be durable.

Like all rhinos, *Elasmotherium* was herbivorous. Unlike many others, its high-crowned molars were ever-growing. Despite its bulk and fatty hump, its legs were longer and more slender than those of other rhinoceros and were designed for better galloping and charging, giving it a zebra-like gait. The feet were unguligrade, the front larger than the rear, with 4 digits at the front and 3 at the rear. Its entire body was covered in brown hair, save for its face, feet, and horn. Like other rhinoceroses, *Elasmotherium* had very poor eyesight, but a highly developed sense of smell. This means it could not see other animals unless they were very close by, or directly upwind from the Elasmotherium.

### Behavior & Traits

A solitary animal, *Elasmotherium* was highly territorial and had no reservations about charging at perceived threats and impaling them with its horn. Despite this, it was not totally fearless and would back down from larger bull Woolly Mammoths. *Elasmotherium*, like a Mammoth, was exclusively a grazer, feeding on the diverse taiga, mammoth steppe, and grasslands of Ice Age Siberia. However, it evidently fed on different types of grasses to mammoths, probably due to the fact that it grazed at higher altitudes.

For all its size, bulk and presumed aggressiveness, though, *Elasmotherium* was still a relatively gentle herbivore--and one well-adapted to eating grass rather than leaves or shrubs, as evidenced by its almost comically heavy, oversized, flat teeth and lack of incisors. However, when startled or provoked, they would charge.

## Prehistoric Earth: A Natural History

### Series 3

The Elasmotherium was first seen in the Series 3 Finale, Mammoth's Undertaking Journey, where the team encountered one while they watching a herd of Woolly Mammoths grazing on the grassland. It investigated Allen's snowmobile, and didn't notice the team due to it's poor eyesight, but picks up their scent and began to come closer to the team. Unfortunately, a bull Woolly Mammoth that going into musth appeared and the Elasmotherium backs down as the large pachyderm chases the team, luckily the team escaped. Deciding to rescue the Elasmotherium, Allen decided to take a risk by using himself as bait to rescue it. He runs up close to the large rhino and waits for it to charge. Eventually the Elasmotherium chases Allen and he opens the portal and sucessfully get the Elasmotherium back to the safety of the present. Later on the team also brings a female back to the park so it would mate with the male so a healthy calf would be born.

## Trivia

* Elasmotherium is the second largest rhino brought to the park.
* The sound effects of *Elasmotherium* are that of typical rhinoceros as well as bull, camel, cow, moose, and walrus sound effects.