From China, where all the new science seems to be occuring, reported in Gizmodo.
Giant rhinos are among the largest mammals to have ever walked this great Earth, and a newly discovered species that lived in northwest China some 25 million years ago is revealing just how magnificent these creatures were.
Gigantism is a biological trait typically associated with dinosaurs, but natural selection has produced some fairly huge mammals as well. In fact, the largest animal of all time, the blue whale, is a mammal. In terms of large terrestrial mammals, Steppe mammoths were pretty big, as were giant ground sloths, but giant rhinos were likely the biggest.
Several genera of giant rhinos are known, among them Paraceratherium. These extinct hornless rhinos lived primarily in Asia, with fossils spread throughout China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. The evolutionary history of giant rhinos is a bit vague, however, and paleontologists have struggled to discern their exact proportions owing to an abundance of incomplete fossils. What is clear, however, is that these mammals were very large.
This group can now claim a new member, Paraceratherium linxiaense, as reported in a study published today in Communications Biology. Paleontologist Tao Deng, from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led the research.
Size?
The evidence pointed to an entirely new species. Compared to other Paraceratherium, this animal featured a slender skull, a short nose trunk, a long neck, and a deeper nasal cavity. This giant rhino “had no horn,” Deng explained in an email. “Its small upper first incisors and deep nasal notch indicates a longer prehensile nose trunk, similar to that of the tapir,” while its large body size, as evidenced by its large 3.8-foot-long (1.14-meter) head, distinguishes it from other species of Paraceratherium, he added.
Extrapolating from the partial remains, Deng estimates a weight of 24 tons, “similar to the total weight of four largest individuals of the modern African elephant,” he said. P. linxiaense stood 16.4 feet (5 meters) at the shoulders, and its body measured 26.25 feet (8 meters) long.
Journal Reference:
Tao Deng, Xiaokang Lu, Shiqi Wang, et al. An Oligocene giant rhino provides insights into Paraceratherium evolution Communications Biology volume 4, (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02170-6)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @12:50PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday June 18 2021, @01:29PM (1 child)
Bless you.
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @04:59PM
Is that like 1/7 of a football field? Or 34000 teaspoons?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday June 18 2021, @01:17PM (1 child)
Check somewhere near the heart for an official CCP Red Star tattoo. Otherwise, it's a capitalistic trick, planted by an American.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @01:25PM
Rhino in name only?
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Friday June 18 2021, @02:38PM (1 child)
I'm guessing they were ground up and used for manliness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @05:00PM
I'm guessing it shrunk the penis rather than grew it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @03:03PM
Last one was stir-fried by 1,000 Chinamen.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @03:13PM (5 children)
"From China, where all the new science seems to be occuring, "
Paid sycophant. Disgusting.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @05:02PM (2 children)
It's so jarringly false it has to be a joke. Chinese science... God help us! Chinese "perfect Truth from Great Leader who hit 18 holes-in-1 on his first ever game of golf" is more like it.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @07:07PM (1 child)
You do know Chinamen are different race than Koreans, don't you? One eats cats, one eats dogs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @08:47PM
Nuke them all and let God sort it out.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @05:55PM (1 child)
It is true that many new fossils have been found in China recently. I think this is more a case of China having been a less explored territory for fossils (and therefore ripe for new discoveries) than Europe or North America because white people (who started paleontology) naturally did the first and heaviest explorations in their own countries.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @09:44PM
Digging old shit out of the ground was not invented by "white people". It's something humans naturally do while looking for food.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday June 18 2021, @04:30PM (2 children)
The largest land mammal ever was the Indricotherium [thoughtco.com], a relative of the modern Rhino. Although from the summary the Indricotherium might lose it's title as "largest" if the estimated size and mass of this new species is confirmed.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 18 2021, @06:51PM (1 child)
My imagination remains undefied.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 19 2021, @06:50AM
But, your imagination is defiled. Admit it, a mammal of this size? A Male Mammal of this size! Can you imagine the size? (Imagination defiled.)