Paraceratherium, the largest land mammal ever
A hornless rhino relative stands five metres at the shoulder and browses treetops across Asia.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 11 million years
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Oligocene, Cenozoic
Paraceratherium reaches perhaps 4.8 metres at the shoulder, 8 metres long and 15 to 20 tonnes — larger than any land mammal before or since, and approaching the smaller sauropods. Its long neck and prehensile upper lip let it browse high canopy across the woodlands of central Asia, and its size was probably its defence: nothing in its environment could threaten an adult. It disappears near the end of the epoch, plausibly as the woodlands that fed it broke up. Its remains have been given a confusing tangle of names, including Indricotherium and Baluchitherium.