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| Woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis |
Its range stretched across northern Asia and Europe, where it occupied the cold, dry grasslands often called the mammoth steppe.
This was not a modern rhinoceros that had simply found a large coat and decided to brave the snow. It was superbly adapted to cold environments.
Woolly rhinoceroses possessed thick skin, a dense coat of hair, small ears and a compact body that helped conserve heat.
A substantial fatty hump over the shoulders provided additional energy reserves and supported the powerful muscles needed to carry its enormous head and horns.
The result was an animal roughly comparable in size to a living white rhinoceros, but with the appearance of someone who had dressed for winter and then lost patience with absolutely everyone.
Its skull supported two horns. The front horn was especially long and flattened from side to side.
Some researchers have suggested that woolly rhinoceroses may have used this horn to sweep snow away from low-growing vegetation, although it was undoubtedly useful for defence and displays as well.
Its scientific name is particularly delightful. Coelodonta means “hollow tooth,” referring to the deep grooves in the animal’s molars. Those teeth were built for grinding tough, abrasive grasses and other low vegetation.
Woolly rhinoceroses were predominantly grazers, harvesting the mammoth steppe with all the delicacy of a heavily armed lawnmower.
Their wide lips and low head posture were well suited to cropping plants close to the ground. Microscopic wear and chemical evidence preserved in their teeth also help us reconstruct what they ate and the environments in which they lived.
The woolly rhinoceros was so familiar to Palaeolithic people that it appears in prehistoric art.
Ancient humans painted and engraved these formidable animals on cave walls and pieces of bone.
One can imagine that a woolly rhinoceros crossing the landscape was not easily overlooked. It was several tonnes of fur, horn and territorial opinion.
The species survived until approximately 14,000 years ago. Recent genetic research suggests its disappearance may have been relatively rapid and closely associated with abrupt climatic warming and the transformation of its cold, dry habitat.
Rather than declining steadily through a long period of severe inbreeding, some of the final populations may have remained genetically healthy until conditions changed dramatically.
The disappearance of the mammoth steppe meant the loss of the particular environment upon which this highly specialized grazer depended.
Being impressively furry, exceptionally large and equipped with a magnificent horn can take you only so far when your entire ecosystem begins changing beneath your feet.
