Elasmotherium

Elasmotherium ("thin plate beast") is a genus of giant rhinoceros that was native to the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods of Eurasia.

Description
Elasmotherium would have looked much like modern rhinos, except for an extremely large horn (measuring possibly 2 meters or more in length ) and thick, shaggy fur. The largest species had a shoulder height of 2 meters and a total length of 5 meters, making it one of the largest rhinoceroses to have ever lived.

Classification
Hundreds of Elasmotherium specimens have been discovered. They are divided into three species based on differences in the skull and teeth: E. sibiricum, E. caucasicum, and E. chaprovicum.

Discovery
Elasmotherium sibiricum, the type species, was described by Johann Fischer von Waldheim of Moscow University in 1808. He named it from a single lower jaw that was donated to a charity.

Diet
Elasmotherium was a grazer, and moved long distance to eat grass of different regions and growth stages.

Habitat
Because of its dietary habits, Elasmotherium most likely lived out in the open on grasslands or plains in order to take advantage of the food that was present.

In popular culture
Elasmotherium only went extinct in the Late Pleistocene, some time during the last ice age, and it is likely that humans encountered the animal. Various myths and legends from across Eurasia feature a unicorn-like creature with a single horn, and some scientists have speculated that these creatures were in fact living examples of Elasmotherium.

In more recent years, Elasmotherium appeared in an episode of the BBC television series Prehistoric Park.