Procavia capensis

The rock hyrax, also called dassie, Rickaz, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, or coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial hyrax native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly called the dassie in South Africa, it is one of the five living species of the order Hyracoidea, and the only one in the genus Procavia. Rock hyraxes weigh 4–5 kg (8.8–11.0 lb) and have short ears.

Procavia capensis

Naturedata · CC0 · 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
Also called
Cape hyraxPBDB
Sits inside
ProcaviaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Procaviidae
Life habit
scansorialPBDB, for Procaviidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 762 thousand years on record.

The record covers at least 774 ka to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 2.58 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 0 of 45 occurrencesPleistocene — about 27 of 45 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 18 of 45 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.5–2.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.4–2.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.2–2.1 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.1–2.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.0–1.8 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.8–1.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.7–1.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.6–1.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.5–1.4 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.4–1.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.3–1.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.2–1.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.1–1.0 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.0–924 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences924 ka–821 ka Mya — about 0.9 occurrences821 ka–719 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence719 ka–616 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence616 ka–513 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence513 ka–411 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence411 ka–308 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence308 ka–205 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence205 ka–103 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences103 ka–0 Mya — about 22 occurrences774 ka11.7 ka3.08 Mya0 Mya

45 occurrences of Procavia capensis on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

45 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

2 formations

Swartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°ESterkfontein — 26.02°S, 27.73°E

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The named rock units Procavia capensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 42 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Procavia capensis and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Procavia capensis and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

311 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 45 sites for Procavia capensis, 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

29 references

Each of the 45 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. 17 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 content3

Picture of Procavia capensis

Credit
Naturedata
Licence
CC0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Procavia capensis · umzc:H4981C

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itProcavia through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Pallas 1766)