Narrow-nosed rhinoceros Temporal range: | |
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Skull of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus | |
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Stephanorhinus hemitoechus life restoration | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Perissodactyla |
Family: | Rhinocerotidae |
Genus: | † Stephanorhinus |
Species: | †S. hemitoechus |
Binomial name | |
†Stephanorhinus hemitoechus Falconer, 1859 | |
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Range of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus (blue) and Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (red), with overlapping range in purple | |
Synonyms | |
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The narrow-nosed rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus hemitoechus), also known as the steppe rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus that lived in western Eurasia, including Europe, as well as North Africa [1] during the Pleistocene. It first appeared in Europe around 500,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene and survived there until at least 34,000 years Before Present. It was native to temperate and Mediterranean environments, where it fed on low growing plants and to a lesser extent woody plants. Evidence has been found that it was exploited for food by archaic humans, including Neanderthals.
The species was originally described by Hugh Falconer in 1859 based on remains found in cave deposits in Glamorganshire, south Wales in Great Britain, dating to the Eemian/Last interglacial (130-115,000 years ago). The species like other Stephanorhinus species was previously assigned historically to the genus Dicerorhinus , which includes the Sumatran rhinoceros. [2]
The narrow-nosed rhinoceros was a large animal, reaching a body mass of approximately 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb), making it around the same size/slightly larger than S. hundsheimensis, but smaller than S. kirchbergensis . [3] The size of the species was somewhat variable depending on local conditions. [4] [5] The skull is low slung, with the cranium being downwardly directed. The teeth are relatively high crowned (hypsodont) compared to other Stephanorhinus species, with the third molars being relatively enlarged. Compared to the earlier species S. jeanvireti, S. etruscus, and S. hundsheimensis the limb joints are relatively shallow, and the limb bones relatively broad and short. [6]
In comparison to the widespread Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis), the narrow-nosed rhinoceros had a less geographically extensive distribution, including much of Europe, [7] [8] as well as West Asia [9] and North Africa. [1] In Europe the species is known from abundant remains in the Iberian Peninsula in the west (where S. kirchbergensis appears to have been rare or absent), [10] eastwards to Italy, [4] Bulgaria [11] and Greece. [12] Its range extended northwards into northern France, [13] Britain (as far north as North Yorkshire [14] ), Germany [2] and Slovakia [15] during warm interglacial periods. [16]
In North Africa, where the species was previously known as Rhinoceros subinermis [12] , remains are known from Cyrenacia in northeast Libya [1] as well as the Maghreb in Morocco [1] and northern Algeria. [17] In West Asia, the range of the species extends from the Levant (including Israel, [18] Jordan [19] and Syria [20] ) in the west, to western Iran, [21] [22] and Azerbaijan in the east, [23] where some remains were previously referred to as the species Rhinoceros binagadensis. [12]
The morphology of the skull suggests that the species was adapted towards a grazing diet. [2] Tooth wear analysis suggests that the narrow-nosed rhinoceros had a variable diet tending towards grazing or mixed feeding, and clearly distinct from the more browsing focused diet inferred for S. kirchbergensis on average. [24] [25] [26] [27] Although the species has been referred to as the "steppe rhinoceros" and presumed to have had a preference for open habitats, the species was ecologically plastic, and occurred in both open grasslands and forested environments. [28] In Europe the species was found in temperate as well as cool climates, and seems to have been intolerant of cold climate conditions like those inhabited by the woolly rhinoceros. [15] In the Middle East the species inhabited warm, open xeric habitats. [18]
The narrow-nosed rhinoceros lived alongside other megafauna species, including both animals present today, like red deer, wolves and brown bears, and those that are extinct, like wild horse, European wild ass, aurochs, Irish elk, steppe lions and straight-tusked elephants. [29]
Finds at a number of sites suggest that the narrow-nosed rhinoceros was exploited for food by archaic humans. Specimens of S. hemitoechus from the Middle Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 12, 478,000-424,000 years ago) Arago Cave (Caune de l'Arago) site in Southern France shows extensive evidence of butchery (presumably by Tautavel Man, which is found at the same site). The ratios of skeletal elements implies that only the parts of the body with the most meat were carried to the site. The profile of ages of rhino bones in the cave resembles natural mortality curves, suggesting that there was not selective hunting, and the fact that marks of other carnivores are rare implies that the carcasses were acquired by hunting or active scavenging. [30] At the Shishan Marsh site in the Azraq Oasis in northeast Jordan, dating to around 250,000 years ago, stone tools at the site have been found to have protein residue from the butchery of rhinoceroses. As S. hemitoechus is the only rhinoceros species known from the site, it is probable that it was the species butchered. [31]
At the late Middle Pleistocene Gran Dolina site in Spain, a handful of S. cf. hemitoechus bones display cut marks. [32] At Biache-Saint-Vaast in northeast France, dating to MIS 7, around 240,000 years ago, [33] remains of at least 33 individuals of S. hemitoechus were found in association with human artifacts, with a significant proportion displaying cut marks. The mortality profile, which is heavily skewed towards juveniles, with no old adults, may suggest selective hunting of juveniles by Neanderthals. [30] At the collapsed cave of Payre in southeast France, dating to the late Middle Pleistocene, numerous remains rhinoceroses, primarily S. kirchbergensis along with a smaller amount of S. hemitoechus have been found, which display marks indicative of butchery and are suggested to have been accumulated at the site by Neanderthals. The abundance of teeth found at the site (though other skull material is largely absent) suggests that the Neanderthals may have been using them as tools. Mortality profiles found that young and old individuals were the most abundant at the site. [34] The late Middle Pleistocene sites of Great Yeldham and Grays Thurrock in southern Britain (both probably dating to around 300,000 years ago) where remains of S. hemitoechus have been found have also been suggested as butchery sites. [35]
A skull from Cueva Des-Cubierta in central Spain, dating to the early-mid Late Pleistocene (MIS 4-early MIS 3, ~71-43,000 years ago), exhibits fracturing and cut marks consistent with butchery by Neanderthals. The missing pieces of the skull were not found in the cave, suggesting that it had been butchered off-site. It has been proposed that the skull was kept as a hunting trophy along with the skulls of aurochs and bison. [36] Several other sites in Spain demonstrate the exploitation of S. hemitoechus by Neanderthals during the early-mid Late Pleistocene, including Navalmaíllo Rock Shelter [37] and Abric Romani. [38]
The earliest remains of the species in Europe date to the early-mid Middle Pleistocene, around 500,000 years ago. [39] It is suggested to have evolved outside of Western Europe before later migrating into the region. The species may have evolved from the earlier Stephanorhinus etruscus. [23] In North Africa, remains of the narrow-nosed rhinoceros are known dating between 109-53,000 years ago. [1] In Europe, the narrow-nosed rhinoceros survived latest in the southern parts of its range. The last records in Italy date to around 41,000 years ago, [27] while remains dating to 40,000 years ago are knowns from Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria. [11] In the Iberian Peninsula, the latest records of the species date to 34,000 years ago. [40] In the Levant, the species may have survived as recently as 15,500 years ago based on remains found in Hayonim Cave, Israel. [41] [18] Its extinction is suggested to be due at least in part due to climatic change causing habitat fragmentation resulting in population fragmentation, with small populations more likely to become extinct as a result of stochastic processes. [27]
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic human which existed during the Middle Pleistocene. It was subsumed as a subspecies of H. erectus in 1950 as H. e. heidelbergensis, but towards the end of the century, it was more widely classified as its own species. It is debated whether or not to constrain H. heidelbergensis to only Europe or to also include African and Asian specimens, and this is further confounded by the type specimen being a jawbone, because jawbones feature few diagnostic traits and are generally missing among Middle Pleistocene specimens. Thus, it is debated if some of these specimens could be split off into their own species or a subspecies of H. erectus. Because the classification is so disputed, the Middle Pleistocene is often called the "muddle in the middle".
Elasmotherium is an extinct genus of large rhinoceros endemic to Eurasia during Late Miocene through to the Late Pleistocene, with the youngest reliable dates around 39,000 years ago. It was the last surviving member of Elasmotheriinae, a distinctive group of rhinoceroses separate from the group that contains living rhinoceros (Rhinocerotinae).
The woolly rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros that inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch. The woolly rhinoceros was a member of the Pleistocene megafauna. The woolly rhinoceros was covered with long, thick hair that allowed it to survive in the extremely cold, harsh mammoth steppe. It had a massive hump reaching from its shoulder and fed mainly on herbaceous plants that grew in the steppe. Mummified carcasses preserved in permafrost and many bone remains of woolly rhinoceroses have been found. Images of woolly rhinoceroses are found among cave paintings in Europe and Asia. The species range contracted towards Siberia beginning around 17,000 years ago, with the youngest known records being around 14,000 years old in northeast Siberia, coinciding with the Bølling–Allerød warming, which likely disrupted its habitat, with environmental DNA records possibly extending the range of the species around 9,800 years ago. Its closest living relative in the Sumatran rhinoceros.
Dicerorhinus is a genus of the family Rhinocerotidae, consisting of a single extant species, the two-horned Sumatran rhinoceros, and several extinct species. The genus likely originated in the Mid to Late Pliocene of Northern Indochina and South China. Many species previously placed in this genus probably belong elsewhere.
Rhinoceros is a genus comprising one-horned rhinoceroses. This scientific name was proposed by Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The genus contains two species, the Indian rhinoceros and the Javan rhinoceros. Although both members are threatened, the Javan rhinoceros is one of the most endangered large mammals in the world with only 60 individuals surviving in Java (Indonesia). The word 'rhinoceros' is of Greek origin meaning "nose-horn".
Stegodon is an extinct genus of proboscidean, related to elephants. It was originally assigned to the family Elephantidae along with modern elephants but is now placed in the extinct family Stegodontidae. Like elephants, Stegodon had teeth with plate-like lophs that are different from those of more primitive proboscideans like gomphotheres and mammutids. Fossils of the genus are known from Africa and across much of Asia, as far southeast as Timor. The oldest fossils of the genus are found in Late Miocene strata in Asia, likely originating from the more archaic Stegolophodon, subsequently migrating into Africa. While the genus became extinct in Africa during the Pliocene, Stegodon persisted in South, Southeast and Eastern Asia into the Late Pleistocene.
Panthera spelaea, commonly known as the cave lion is an extinct Panthera species native to Eurasia and northwest North America during the Pleistocene epoch. Genetic analysis of ancient DNA has revealed that while closely related, it was a distinct species genetically isolated from the modern lion, with the genetic divergence between the two species estimated at around 500,000 years ago. The earliest fossils of the P. spelaea lineage in Eurasia date to around 700,000 years ago. It is closely related and probably ancestral to the American lion. The species ranged from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America, and was a prominent member of the mammoth steppe fauna, and an important apex predator across its range. It became extinct about 13,000 years ago. It closely resembled living lions with a coat of yellowish-grey fur, though unlike living lions males appear to have lacked manes.
Coelodonta is an extinct genus of Eurasian rhinocerotoids from 3.7 million years to 14,000 years ago, in the Pliocene and the Pleistocene epochs. It is best known from the type species, the woolly rhinoceros, which ranged throughout northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene. The earliest known species, Coelodonta thibetana, lived in Tibet during the Pliocene, with the genus spreading to the rest of Eurasia during the Pleistocene.
The European wild ass or hydruntine is an extinct equine from the Middle Pleistocene to Late Holocene of Europe and West Asia, and possibly North Africa. It is a member of the subgenus Asinus, and closely related to the living Asiatic wild ass. The specific epithet, hydruntinus, means from Otranto.
The straight-tusked elephant is an extinct species of elephant that inhabited Europe and Western Asia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. One of the largest known elephant species, mature fully grown bulls on average had a shoulder height of 4 metres (13 ft) and a weight of 13 tonnes (29,000 lb). Straight-tusked elephants likely lived very similarly to modern elephants, with herds of adult females and juveniles and solitary adult males. The species was primarily native to temperate and Mediterranean woodland and forest habitats, flourishing during interglacial periods, when its range would extend across Europe as far north as Great Britain and eastwards into Russia. Skeletons found in association with stone tools and wooden spears suggest they were scavenged and hunted by early humans, including Neanderthals. It is the ancestor of most dwarf elephants that inhabited islands in the Mediterranean.
The cave hyena, also known as the Ice Age spotted hyena, are paleosubspecies of spotted hyena known from Eurasia, which ranged from the Iberian Peninsula to eastern Siberia. It is one of the best known mammals of the Ice Age and is well represented in many European bone caves. It preyed on large mammals, and was responsible for the accumulation of hundreds of large Pleistocene mammal bones in areas including horizontal caves, sinkholes, mud pits, and muddy areas along rivers.
The island of Great Britain, along with the rest of the archipelago known as the British Isles, has a largely temperate climate. It contains a relatively small fraction of the world's wildlife. The biota was severely diminished in the last ice age, and shortly thereafter was separated from the continent by the English Channel's formation. Since then, humans have hunted the most dangerous forms to extinction, though domesticated forms such as the dog and the pig remain. The wild boar has subsequently been reintroduced as a meat animal.
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Swanscombe Skull Site or Swanscombe Heritage Park is a 3.9-hectare (9.6-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Swanscombe, north-west Kent, England. It contains two Geological Conservation Review sites and a National Nature Reserve. The park lies in a former gravel quarry, Barnfield Pit, which is the most important site in the Swanscombe complex, alongside several other nearby pits.
Stephanorhinus is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of Stephanorhinus were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in much of temperate Eurasia, especially Europe, for most of the Pleistocene. The last two species of Stephanorhinus – Merck's rhinoceros and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros – went extinct during the last glacial period.
Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis, also known as Merck's rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Stephanorhinus from the Middle to Late Pleistocene of Eurasia. Its range spanned from Western Europe to Eastern Asia. Among the last members of the genus, it co-existed alongside Stephanorhinus hemitoechus in the western part of its range.
Praemegaceros is an extinct genus of deer, known from the Pleistocene and Holocene of Western Eurasia. Praemegaceros is considered to be a genus of "giant deer", with many species having an estimated body mass of around 400 kilograms (880 lb), considerably larger than most living deer.
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Pliorhinus is an extinct genus of rhinoceros known from the Late Miocene and Pliocene of Eurasia. The type species, Pliorhinus megarhinus, was previously assigned to Dihoplus.