The Rise (And Fall) Of The Woolly Rhinoceros

For millions of years, the woolly rhinoceros roamed the planet during the Ice Ages. Today, scientists are still teasing apart their mysterious origins and eventual demise.

By Sofia Quaglia
Nov 1, 2023 3:00 PM
The woolly rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis) as illustrated by paleoartist Benjamin Langlois
An illustration of a wooly rhinocerous (Coelodonta antiquitatis) by paleoartist Benjamin Langlois. (Credit: Benjamin Langlois/Wikimedia Commons)

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The woolly rhinoceros — known to scientists as any species of rhinos under the genus Coelodonta — roamed the planet up till 12,000 years ago, spreading all over Asia, Europe, and North Africa.

“It had a huge geographical range,” says Pierre-Olivier Antoine, a specialist in Cenozoic megamammals at the Université de Montpellier, in France. It was clad in a thick, shabby coat of rust-colored fur to weather winter storms of the Ice Ages. As such, the hairy beasts earned the nickname “woolly rhino”.

What Did The Woolly Rhino Look Like?

This is artist Julie Naylor's rendering of Tibetan woolly rhino (Credit: Julie Naylor)

As one of the Ice Age megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros was more than 6 feet tall and 16 feet long, sporting two big keratin horns on the front of its head. Since some of the specimens scientists have found had broken ribs and horns, experts theorize the rhinos may have also used them for defense or for sexual combats — and were possibly aggressive animals.

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