Gigantic Rhinoceros Fossils Dubbed Largest Mammal to Grace the Earth, Uncovered in China’s Gansu Province

A team of researchers has unearthed fossils from a new giant rhinoceros species in Gansu Province, China, that dates back to roughly 26.5 million years ago.

The fossils are one of the last remaining relics of the largest mammal in history to ever walk the face of the Earth. It stood about 20 feet tall, at the shoulder, and can weigh over 20 tons, much larger than the Mammoths of old, and especially the modern rhinos.

Giant Rhino Fossil Unearthed

According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications Biology, entitled An Oligocene giant rhino provides insights into Paraceratherium evolution, a team of researchers headed by Tao Deng, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, unearthed the skeletal remains of the gigantic rhino dubbed Paraceratherium linxiaense in the Linxia region of Gansu Province of Northwestern China in May of 2015.

Researchers say that the recovered fossils show that the giant rhino is one of the largest terrestrial mammals to ever grace the face of the Earth. Its skull and limbs are longer than any other mammal reported in history.

One of the fossils consisted of a jawbone, teeth, skull, and atlas vertebra, while the others consisted of three vertebrae. Researchers say that the gigantic rhinos had deeper nasal cavities compared to other giant rhinoceros species and had a slender skull, long neck, and a short nose trunk, reports USA Today.

From the unearthed remains, researchers were able to reconstruct the ancient animals' physique and discerned enough differences to categorize the giant rhino as a new species, according to their study.

Lawrence Flynn, the co-author of the study from the Department of Human Evolution, Harvard University, shares their excitement for the unearthed fossils stating that all samples were perfectly preserved, allowing the team to accurately reconstruct the giant rhino's anatomy.

History of Giant Rhinoceros

NBC News reports that giant rhinos first made headlines in the 1920s after an expedition by celebrated American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews in Mongolia and China.

Andrews and his team uncovered rhinoceros fossils in the unexplored Gobi Desert and returned to New York City with fossilized skulls that later went on display at the American Museum of Natural History. The giant rhinos lived in the limelight and outshone even the biggest dinosaurs, according to historians from King's College London.

Donald Prothero, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum LA County, says that the gigantic land mammal is one of the last surviving giants to walk the face of the Earth. Despite gigantic mammals being commonplace in much of the earlier periods in prehistory, most died out when climatic changes resulted in drier and more arid conditions during the Oligocene period from about 34-23 million years ago.

The dramatic change led to the fall of the Earth's extensive forests, and eventually, most of the mammals that heavily relied on them for food and survival. However, giant rhinos were able to survive.

Prothero adds that during this period, the Earth was much drier with lots of open turfs, trees were the only source of nourishment for the gigantic beasts, and so they would go from one tree stand to another.