Woolly rhinoceros
Woolly Rhinoceros is an odd toed ungulate known for its shaggy coat of fur and its odd, paired horns, including a big, upward-curving one on the tip of its snout and a smaller pair set further up, nearer its eyes. Long, thick hair that allows it to survive in the extremely cold, harsh mammoth steppe. They have a massive hump reaching from its shoulder and fed mainly on herbaceous plants that grow in the steppe.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The woolly rhino has a similar body to its tropical cousins, mainly by had a longer head and body, and shorter legs. Their shoulders are raised with a powerful hump, used to support the animal's massive front horn. This hump also has a fat reserve to aid survival through the desolate winters common to the mammoth steppe.
The rhino's long fur coat is reddish-brown, with a thick undercoat under a layer of long, coarse guard hair thickest on the withers and neck. Shorter hair covers the limbs to keep snow from attaching. The body's length ends with a 45 to 50 cm (1.48 to 1.64 ft) tail with a brush of coarse hair at the end. Other adaptations to the cold include smaller ears and shorter tails. They also had thick skin, ranging from 5 to 15 millimeters (0.20 to 0.59 in), heaviest on the chest and shoulders.
Ecology and Habitats
These rhino's main habitat was the mammoth steppe, a large, open landscape covered with wide ranges of grass and bushes. They live mainly in lowlands, plateaus and river valleys, with dry to arid climates, and migrate to higher plains during favorable seasons. However, they avoid mountain ranges, due to heavy snow and steep terrain that they often have trouble dealing with.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Woolly rhinoceroses mostly feed on grasses and sedges that grow in the mammoth steppe. They also eat woody plants like conifers, willows and alders and snack on flowers, forbs and mosses. these woolly rhinoceros even eat seasonally different areas of horn growth suggest that it mainly grazed in summer, while it browsed for shrubs and branches in the winter.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Woolly rhinos are one of the big game creatures that are occasionally hunted by people of the steppe like @Isku Amazons. While not their main source of food, they can provide a source of warm pelts for clothing and their horns can be made into various tools like the handles of weapons like daggers.
Scientific Name
Coelodonta antiquitatis
Conservation Status
Endemic to the Mammoth Steppe
Average Height
2 m (6.6 ft)
Average Weight
1,800–2,700 kg (4,000–6,000 lb)
Average Length
3 to 3.8 metres (9.8 to 12.5 ft)
Geographic Distribution
Comments