Sivatherium

Sivatherium is an extinct genus of giraffid that lived in India, Pakistan, Chad, Kenya, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Morocco, South Africa, Malawi, Kazakhstan, Spain, Tajikistan, Tanzania and Uganda. The species Sivatherium giganteum is, by weight, one of the largest giraffids known, and also one of the largest ruminants of all time. Sivatherium originated during the Late Miocene in Africa and survived through to the late Early Pleistocene (Calabrian) until around 1 million years ago.

Sivatherium

Basu et al · CC BY 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
SivatheriinaePBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Giraffidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla
Mass
500 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 5.333 Mya to 1.8 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Oligocene — about 0 of 36 occurrencesMiocene — about 7 of 36 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 21 of 36 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 8 of 36 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.3–5.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.5–4.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 5 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 6 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 3 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences5.333 Mya1.8 Mya23.5 Mya0 Mya

36 occurrences of Sivatherium on record, most of them in the Pliocene. 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

36 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

15 formations

Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ETatrot — 30.73°N, 76.78°ETatrot — 23.85°N, 86.51°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.35°EChiwondo — 10.00°S, 33.92°EChiwondo — 10.17°S, 34.00°EWembere-Manonga — 3.87°S, 33.72°EWembere-Manonga — 4.03°S, 33.77°ESagantole — 10.63°N, 40.54°EKaiso Village — 1.50°N, 31.00°EBredasdorp & Varswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ENawata and Nachukui — 2.90°N, 36.05°ENawata — 2.90°N, 36.05°EKuruksai suite — 38.31°N, 69.67°ENagrota — 32.70°N, 74.85°EAdu-Asa — 10.32°N, 40.25°ECigarron — 37.92°N, 1.16°WKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Sivatherium has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 13 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sivatherium and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Sivatherium and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

587 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 36 sites for Sivatherium, 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

30 references

Each of the 36 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. 18 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 Sivatherium

Credit
Basu et al
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Sivatherium sp. · AMNH:FM:27008

3D model

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

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 itSivatheriinae through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Falconer and Cautley 1836