![]() The Asian one-horned rhinoceroses in the subfamily Rhinocerotinae can be traced back to Gaindatherium browni from mid-Miocene deposits in India. The sole surviving species, the Sumatran rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, has changed little from the Oligocene form. Two other rhinos from this subfamily occurred in Europe during the Pleistocene: the steppe rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus hemitoechus, and Merck's rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus kirchbergensis, which was more a forest inhabitant. This species was primarily a grazer, as attested by its lengthened head, lack of incisors and canine teeth, and high-crowned cheek teeth. One of its descendants was the woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis, which was widespread through northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene ice ages. The Asian twohorned rhinos, or Dicerorhinae, may be traced back 40 million years to Dicerorhinus tagicus, an animal the size of a small tapir. The five extant species of rhinoceros fall into three distinct subfamilies. Elasmotherium sibiricum was a Pleistocene giant with a huge single horn in the frontal region. ![]() Teleoceros was a squat North American form with a single small horn on the end of the nose, while the Diceratheres had two horns side by side on the snout. Among the Oligocene rhinoceroses, Indricotherium asiaticum, standing 16.4 ft (5 m) tall at the shoulder, was the largest land mammal ever. ![]() The family was far more abundant and species-rich during the later Tertiary period than today. ![]() The rhinoceros lineage split from the tapirs and equids in the late Eocene. Habitat From rainforest through savanna to semidesertĬonservation status Critically Endangered: 3 species Endangered: 1 species Lower Risk/Near Threatened: 1 speciesÄistribution Africa and tropical Asia formerly also Eurasia Evolution and systematics Number of genera, species 4 genera 5 species Thumbnail description Large, heavily built ungulates with three toes on each limb, one or two horns on the snout, and skin mostly devoid of hairs ![]()
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