Paraceratherium

Paraceratherium is an extinct genus of hornless rhinocerotoids belonging to the family Paraceratheriidae. It is one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed and lived from the Early to Late Oligocene epoch. The first fossils were discovered in what is now Pakistan, and remains have been found across Eurasia between China and the Balkans. Paraceratherium means "near the hornless beast", in reference to Aceratherium, the genus in which the type species P. bugtiense was originally placed.

Paraceratherium

MikSed · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
ParaceratheriinaePBDB
Diet
browserPBDB, for Ceratomorpha
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Ceratomorpha
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria
Length
7.4 mWikidata
Mass
30 tonneWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 6.6 million years on record.

The record covers at least 33.9 Mya to 27.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 37.71 Mya to 15.98 Mya.

Eocene — about 3 of 38 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 34 of 38 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1 of 38 occurrencesMiocene38–37 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences37–37 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences37–36 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences35–34 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences34–34 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences34–33 Mya — about 1 occurrence33–32 Mya — about 1 occurrence32–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–30 Mya — about 1 occurrence30–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–28 Mya — about 1 occurrence28–27 Mya — about 3 occurrences27–26 Mya — about 4 occurrences26–25 Mya — about 4 occurrences25–25 Mya — about 4 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 4 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 4 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences33.9 Mya27.3 Mya38.2 Mya15.5 Mya

38 occurrences of Paraceratherium on record, most of them in the Oligocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

38 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

17 formations

Chitarwata — 28.85°N, 69.12°ETaoshuyuanzi — 45.87°N, 90.17°EAral — 46.80°N, 60.58°EWulanbulage — 39.83°N, 108.73°EWulanbulage — 39.65°N, 106.68°ENaogangdai — 42.04°N, 111.53°EAktau — 44.33°N, 78.43°EAktau — 45.27°N, 78.48°EXianshuihe — 36.06°N, 103.79°EXianshuihe — 36.33°N, 103.90°EChilikta — 47.25°N, 61.05°EBaron Sog — 42.42°N, 111.20°EHsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.77°ELoh — 45.49°N, 101.20°EKizilirmak — 40.02°N, 34.02°ECaijiachong — 25.39°N, 103.95°EHouldjin — 43.65°N, 111.98°EGüngörmez — 40.09°N, 43.57°EHanjiajing — 36.06°N, 103.79°EBugti Hills — 29.03°N, 69.10°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Paraceratherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Paraceratherium and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Paraceratherium and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

131 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 33 sites for Paraceratherium, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

23 references

Each of the 38 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 11 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Paraceratherium

Credit
MikSed
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
kenchoo
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itParaceratheriinae through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Forster Cooper 1911