Woolly Rhino with Calf

(Coelodonta antiquitatis)

Order: Perissodactyla

Family: Rhinocerotidae

During the Pleistocene epoch of Europe and Asia, the fauna consisted of several species of rhinoceroses. These species grazed temperate grasslands and tundra, and many evolved thick coats of hair for protection against the cold climate. One such species was the woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis. The woolly rhinoceros had a thick and shaggy coat of fur similar to that of the mammoth and was adapted to eating the grass thatgrew on the Eurasian steppe. Its habitat was vast, extending from eastern Asia to the British Isles. However, unlike the woolly mammoth and other Pleistocene mammals, the woolly rhinoceros did not manage to migrate across the Bering Strait into North America.

Woolly rhinoceros fossils are not uncommon and can be found throughout Europe and Asia. Well-preserved remains have been found frozen in ice and buried in oil-saturated soils. At Staruni in what is now the Ukraine, a complete carcass of a female rhinoceros was found buried in the mud. The combination of oil and salt prevented the remains from decomposing allowing the soft tissues to remain virtually intact. This specimen is currently mounted in the Paleontological Museum in Kraków, Poland.

Woolly rhinoceros are clearly shown in the cave paintings of early humans. Although hunting these animals was very dangerous, the rhinos probably served as a common food source for many of the human populations of that time. Measuring nearly 6 feet at the shoulder, a little smaller than today1s white rhinoceros, its size would have made it a formidable prey. With quick speed and a short temper, subduing a rhino could have easily been fatal. Rather than tackling one head on, human hunters may have used safer methods, like trapping them in pits where they could then be killed with rocks or spears.

The woolly rhinoceros's primary defense against predators was its two horns. Some horns found have measured nearly 5 feet in length. Like modern rhinos, woolly rhinoceros had horns composed of keratin. Unlike the horns of cows, rhino horns are made of fused, fibrous constructions that are solid throughout and are not hollow with a bone core. The fibers represent greatly modified hairs and are attached to the snout by skin supported by a raised, roughened area on the skull.

An interesting feature of the woolly rhinoceros's anterior horn is that it was flattened from side to side, rather than round like the horn of the modern rhinoceroses. It is believed that constant contact with rough vegetation, as they moved their heads back and forth while grazing, would have kept the horn worn flat. Also, the horn was probably used as a plow, allowing the animal to brush aside snow to get at underlying vegetation.

Unable to cope with the changing climate, woolly rhinos are believed to have become extinct around 20,000 years ago toward the end of the last Ice Age. Presently, the family Rhinocerotidae contains only five living species, two in Africa and three throughout Asia. All but the Sumatran rhinoceros are virtually hairless except for the tip of the tail and a fringe on the ears. The Sumatran rhinoceros, stranded on the island of Sumatra during the retreat of the last ice sheet, is covered with a fairly dense coat of hair and is believed to be the closest living relative of the woolly rhinoceros.