Tag Archive for 'Rhinoceros'

A paleoartist’s reconstruction of the three extinct species whose genomes were sequenced by Liu et al.: in the foreground is a Siberian unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum), and close behind are two Merck’s rhinoceroses (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis); in the far background is a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis). Image credit: Beth Zaiken.

Ancient Protein Analysis Sheds New Light on Rhino Family Tree

Jul 10, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have retrieved ancient enamel protein sequences from a fossilized tooth of Epiaceratherium sp., a rhinocerotid that lived in Canada’s...

The Turkana Basin within the East African Rift System preserves fossil assemblages that date back more than 66 million years; Green et al. collected powdered samples for paleoproteomic analysis from the dense interiors of enamel from large herbivores from the Early Pleistocene back to the Oligocene (29 million years). Image credit: Green et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-025-09040-9.

Paleontologists Find Ancient Proteins in 18-Million-Year-Old Mammal Tooth Enamel

Jul 9, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered protein sequences within dense enamel tissues of ancient rhinocerotid and proboscidean fossils collected at sites of Buluk...

The pawprints of a nimravid from the John Day Formation of Oregon, the United States. Image credit: NPS.

29-Million-Year-Old Footprints of False Saber-Toothed Cat Discovered in Oregon

Apr 25, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have discovered 50- to 25-million-year-old fossilized footprints of invertebrates and vertebrates, including a false saber-toothed cat...

Herd of Teleoceras rhinos. Image credit: Jay Matternes / Smithsonian Museum.

Extinct North American Rhinos Lived in Huge Herds, Paleontologists Say

Apr 9, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists have examined teeth of Teleoceras major — an extinct species of rhinocerotid that lived in North America from 17.5 to 5 million years...

Woolly rhinoceroses (Coelodonta antiquitatis) were once widely distributed across northern and central Eurasia, before going extinct some 10,000 years ago. Image credit: Mauricio Anton.

Ancient Humans Played Role in Demise of Woolly Rhinoceros, New Research Suggests

Jun 4, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The extinction of the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) at the onset of the Holocene remains an enigma, with conflicting evidence regarding its...

The 300,000-year-old fossil footprints at Schöningen 13 II-2 Untere Berme, Germany. Image credit: Altamura et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108094.

300,000-Year-Old Footprints of Homo heidelbergensis Found in Germany

Jul 26, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

Archaeologists have discovered three footprints of Homo heidelbergensis — a direct ancestor of Neanderthals — and numerous footprints of elephants...

Neanderthals are commonly thought to have relied on dangerous close range hunting techniques, using non-projectile weapons like the thrusting spears depicted here; this hunting approach is thought to have brought them into violent contact with large mammals, resulting in high levels of injury especially to the head and neck when compared to modern humans; Beier et al found similar head injury levels in both Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans, casting doubt on this hypothesis. Image credit: Gleiver Prieto.

Strontium Isotope Analysis Provides Insights into Hunting Habits and Diets of Neanderthals

May 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

In new research, scientists examined chemical properties locked inside tooth enamel of two Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals and a Magdalenian human from...

This colorized photo shows American President Theodore Roosevelt standing behind the carcass of a rhinocerous. Image credit: U.S. Library of Congress.

Rhino Horns Have Gradually Decreased in Size over Past Century, Image-Based Study Shows

Nov 2, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Rhinos are among the most charismatic and well-known mammals on Earth, but they face extinction because of human activities. To learn how to save rhinos,...

Ancient and Modern DNA Reveals Evolutionary History of Rhinoceros Family

Aug 25, 2021 by News Staff

Researhers have sequenced the genomes of two living and three extinct rhinoceros species and compared them to existing data from the remaining three living...

This image depicts a Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain with woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and European cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea) with a reindeer carcass. Image credit: Mauricio Antón.

Climate Change Drove Woolly Rhinoceros to Extinction: DNA Study

Aug 14, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed a complete nuclear genome and 14 mitochondrial genomes from the extinct woolly rhinoceros...