Page 196 - The Dinosaur Book and Other Wonders of the Prehistoric World (DK-Smithsonian)
P. 196

This North American bison                                                      The body of the northern
                   was bigger than any modern                                                    species of Elasmotherium
                    bison and its horns reached                                                   was covered in thick hair
                     7 ft (2.1 m) from tip to tip.          Bison latifrons                             for insulation.
























                                                                 The legs of this animal
                                                                   were longer than those
                                                                     of modern rhinos,
                                                                   suggesting it may have
                       Female mammoth
                                                                  been quicker on its feet.




                                 Massive bones supported
                                 the mammoth’s weight, which
                                 was similar to that of an
                                 African elephant.                                      Juvenile male mammoth












                                                                                Juvenile mammoths may
                                                                                have stayed close to their
                                                                                parents until they could
                                                                                fend for themselves.






                                       The foot bones rested on pads
                                      of tough, spongy tissue that acted
                                              as shock absorbers.



           One of the biggest ice-age giants was                that lived alongside the woolly mammoth
           Deinotherium, a huge elephant relative with          in the colder parts of northern Europe and
           down-curved tusks in its lower jaw. It appeared      Asia. Farther south there were vast forests
           about 10 million years ago but became extinct        that provided a habitat for bison and other
           during the ice ages. Another super-sized animal      wild cattle, like the aurochs, Bos primigenius,
    194    was Elasmotherium, a type of rhinoceros              an ancestor of domestic cattle. The open





   US_192-195_Ice-age_Giants.indd   194                                                                          26/04/18   3:30 PM
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