An artist’s impression of Elasmotherium sp.
Image credit: W. S. Van der Merwe
Posted on 11/29/2018 10:37:04 AM PST by ETL
For a long time it was believed that a giant rhinoceros called Elasmotherium sibericum went extinct around 200,000 years ago — well before the Quaternary megafaunal extinction event, which saw the end of the woolly mammoth, Irish elk and saber-toothed cat. Now improved dating of fossils suggests that the species survived in Eastern Europe and Central Asia until at least 39,000 years ago, overlapping in time with the existence of early modern humans.
Today there are just five surviving rhinoceros species, although in the past there have been as many as 250 species at different times.
Weighing up to 3.5 tons, Elasmotherium sibericum — also known as the ‘Siberian unicorn’, due to its extraordinary single horn — was undoubtedly one of the most impressive.
It has long been assumed that this ancient creature went extinct well before the Ice Age. However, a new study challenges the date of this species’ demise.
“This megafaunal extinction event didn’t really get going until about 40,000 years ago,” said study senior author Professor Adrian Lister, a researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum, London, UK.
“So Elasmotherium sibericum with its apparent extinction date of 100,000 years ago or more has not been considered as part of that same event.”
“We dated a few specimens and to our surprise they came in at less than 40,000 years old.”
The radiocarbon dating results show that Elasmotherium sibericum survived until at least 39,000 years ago, and possibly as late as 35,000 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
As is the case with Current Modern Humans.
ROFLMAO!!
But the loveliest of all was this yuge unicorn.
Unfortunately it became extinct before the invention of writing, so we may never know if it tasted like chicken.
It must have tasted good enough to eat all of them.
Kind of goofy looking beast. Glad to see it gone.
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