Honanotherium Temporal range: Late Miocene | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Mounted skeleton in Henan Geological Museum | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Giraffidae |
Genus: | † Honanotherium Bohlin, 1927 |
Species | |
|
Honanotherium is a genus of extinct giraffid from the late Miocene of Henan Province, China, and East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. [2] [1] It was closely related to Bohlinia and was once thought to be ancestral to the modern giraffe (genus Giraffa ). The living animal would have resembled a modern giraffe, but was somewhat shorter, with more massive ossicones.
The first part of the generic name, honano refers to the Henan (Chinese :河南; pinyin :Hénán) province of China, where the first specimens were recovered. The second part, therium, comes from the Greek, θηρίον which means "beast."
Like the modern-day giraffe, Honanotherium may have grazed on low-lying trees in the savannah environment, although its shorter neck shows that it probably fed on different plants than the extant giraffe.