Scientists TSU and University of Wroclaw examine the skeleton of a large ancient rhinoceros
University of Wroclaw paleontologists Krzysztof Stefaniak, Adam Kotovsky, and Ursula Ratajczak, and Andrei Shpansky, their colleague from TSU, are exploring remnants of a Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus), which lived more than 100,000 years ago. Presumably the rhinoceros died in the swampy terrain, which helped its skeleton survive almost completely. This discovery will allow scientists to obtain new data on the disappeared species, which was one of the largest two-horned rhinoceroses.
- Outwardly the Merck's rhinoceros, which is ecologically woodland, is very similar to the well-known woolly rhinoceros, - says Andrey Shpansky, an assistant professor at the Department of Paleontology and Historical Geology at the Faculty of Geology and Geography. – This species is older than many mammoths because it was situated 600-100 thousand years ago. The object of our study is completely unique: today this is the only surviving skeleton of a Merck's rhinoceros.
Read more: http://en.tsu.ru/news/scientists-examine-the-skeleton-of-a-large-ancient-rhinoceros-/
