The Woolly Rhinoceros was an incredible Pleistocene megafauna in the steppes of northern Eurasia. Coelodonta antiquitatis emerged in the fossil record 3.6 million years ago and were perfectly adapted to the cold, dry environment thanks to a coat of long hair.

Their massive four-foot-long horns were carried by a set of powerful shoulders and they likely fed on low grasses and other plant matter.

This specimen is a fragment of fossilized bone from the North Sea, which once was a tundra between the British Isle and continental Europe before it flooded 8,000 years ago. This prehistoric landmass is referred to as Doggerland, and was home to all kinds of Pleistocene megafauna, like the Woolly Mammoth, as well as humans, crossing from the mainland to the Isles.

As noted above, the fossil ships in a padded gem jar set into a classic black riker display case. The case measures 4 1/2" x 3 1/2" and includes an informational photo card that also serves as a statement of authenticity.

We also have a variety of beautiful Woolly Rhino Teeth in the shop too! You can check these out in the collection below!

"Accounts strongly suggest that fossil rhino horns were indeed known to, and used by, the native inhabitants of northeastern Siberia." ~ Professor Mikael Fortelius

The woolly rhinoceros, or Coelodonta antiquitatis, emerged in Eurasia 3.6 million years ago, where their long hair and heavy fat protected them from the permafrost climate. These animals were huge, comparable in size to the modern white rhino. They could reach up to 3.5 m (12 ft) in length and over 2 and a half tons (6,000 lb). Most impressive was their front horn, a massive keratin formation over 1.2 m (4 ft) long.

Like other Pleistocene megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros’ migrations across Eurasia were tethered to the shifting climate of the last ice age. The genus’ earliest known fossils are the closely related Coelodonta thibetana, which evolved in what is now Tibet. As the climate cooled, these rhinos migrated to lower altitudes, fanning out across the steppe. Woolly rhino horns also contain contrasting colored rings that indicate seasonal shifts in the rhinoceros’ diet between warm and cold months.

As a relatively younger prehistoric species, woolly rhinoceros remains are found well preserved, giving us much insight into their lives. Frozen stomach contents consist mostly of low-lying grass and the woolly rhino’s skull shape indicates it hung low to better get at this vegetation.

Unlike the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros’ distribution was limited to Eurasia, never crossing Beringia into the Americas, and mostly keeping out of northern Siberia.

The woolly rhinoceros lived until the Quaternary extinction event, a slow-rolling collapse of the megafaunal biome. A warming climate replaced grasslands with shrubs and trees, fracturing the woolly rhinoceros population into small bands with little genetic diversity.

Unlike the woolly mammoth, hunting from humans does not seem to have played a major role in their extinction— genomic sequencing suggests that the population was large before the climate shift. Perhaps our ancestors were too intimidated by that big horn to hunt them!

Humans may not have regularly hunted the woolly rhinoceros, but we certainly had contact with it. At Chauvet Cave in southern France, one wall is adorned with two woolly rhinos charging at each other, a rare depiction of aggression in usually serene cave art.

At Rouffignac Cave, the artist incorporated specific anatomical details, like a small nasal appendage that warmed air as the rhino breathed. One wall depicts a trio of rhinos walking together, one with a broken horn, one with a long, twisted horn signifying greater age, and a youngster with a short horn.