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WOOLY RHINOCEROS RIB FROM GREAT BRITAIN Interglacial Gravel Pit Deposit - Great Britain PLEISTOCENE PERIOD (IPSWICHIAN): 110,000 years ago Fine grade Woolly rhinoceros fossils are found in much less numbers than Woolly mammoth fossils. Very seldom do Woolly rhino fossils of fine preservation ever reach the market. A rib is an uncommon find as the more durable type fossils are teeth. This is an intact first rib of the giant European Woolly rhinoceros, known scientifically as Coelodonta antiquitatis. Only the very end has eroded away but the rib is 99% complete. The location of this rib would have been at the furthest front of the rib cage as the very first rib before the ribs get larger and more curved. Then entire specimen is exquisitely preserved with perfectly solid joint surfaces where it would have articulated with the vertebra as seen above. This rib is INTACT and with NO REPAIR AND NO RESTORATION. A rare fossil from a very rare source for a modest price considering its uniqueness. Beginning in eastern Asia about 1.8 million years ago, the giant Woolly rhinoceros, known scientifically as Coelodonta antiquitatis, migrated into Europe and became well-suited to the harsh environment there that existed in our last Ice Age. The animal's massive body and long, shaggy fur allowed it to withstand the severe cold and barren land as it fed on vegetation of the steppe and tundra of Eurasia. The Woolly rhino grew to 11 feet in length and stood 6 feet at its shoulders. It had a huge pair of horns that grew inline on its snout. The front horn grew to lengths in excess of 3 feet. Like modern rhinos, Woolly rhinoceros had horns composed of keratin. Unlike the hollow horns of cows, rhino horns are made of fused hair that are solid throughout. The fibers are attached to the snout by skin supported by a raised, roughened area on the skull. An interesting feature of the Woolly rhinoceros' anterior horn is that it was flat from side to side, rather than round like the horn of the modern rhinoceroses.
Woolly rhinoceros are clearly shown in cave paintings made by Neanderthals in southern France around 30,000 years ago. Hunting these animals would have been extremely dangerous given the beast's violent temperament and size coupled with its weaponry of its two horns. Like the cave bear, these deadly creatures were revered and were quite a trophy upon a successful hunt. Their eventual extinction is believed to have been caused by their inability to cope with the warming climate that marked the close of the last Ice Age. Today, the family Rhinocerotidae contains only five living species in the wild, two in Africa and three throughout Asia. All but the Sumatran rhinoceros are virtually hairless except for the tip of the tail and a fringe on the ears. The Sumatran rhinoceros is thought to have been stranded on the island of Sumatra during the retreat of the last ice sheet. This amazing animal is covered with a fairly dense coat of hair and is believed to be the closest living relative of the Woolly rhinoceros. RARE HIGH GRADE FOSSIL FROM THIS FAMOUS ICE AGE BEAST - VERY UNCOMMON SITE LOCATION 13.5" in length SOLD LM12-020 Actual Item - One Only |
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Woolly
rhino fossils can be found throughout Europe and Asia.
Well-preserved remains have been found frozen in ice and buried in
oil-saturated soils. At Staruni in what is now the Ukraine, a
complete carcass of a female rhinoceros was found buried in the mud. The
combination of oil and salt prevented the remains from decomposing
allowing the soft tissues to remain virtually intact. This
specimen is currently mounted in the Paleontological Museum in Krakow,
Poland.