Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Pachydermata (meaning 'thick skin', from the Greek παχύς, pachys, 'thick', and δέρμα, derma, 'skin') is an obsolete order of mammals described by Gottlieb Storr, Georges Cuvier, and others, at one time recognized by many systematists. The term pachyderm is commonly used to describe elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses and tapirs ...
Megafauna. The African bush elephant (foreground), Earth's largest extant land animal, and the Masai ostrich (background), one of Earth's largest extant birds. In zoology, megafauna (from Greek μέγας megas "large" and Neo-Latin fauna "animal life") are large animals. The precise definition of the term varies widely, though a common ...
Diprotodon is the largest-known marsupial to have ever lived; it greatly exceeds the size of its closest living relatives wombats and koalas. It is a member of the extinct family Diprotodontidae, which includes other large quadrupedal herbivores. It grew as large as 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) at the shoulders, over 4 m (13 ft) from head to tail, and ...
The largest dinosaurs, and the largest animals to ever live on land, were the plant-eating, long-necked Sauropoda. The tallest and heaviest sauropod known from a complete skeleton is a specimen of an immature Giraffatitan discovered in Tanzania between 1907 and 1912, now mounted in the Museum für Naturkunde of Berlin.
The largest odd-toed ungulates are rhinoceroses, and the extinct Paraceratherium, a hornless rhino from the Oligocene, is considered one of the largest land mammals of all time. [4] At the other extreme, an early member of the order, the prehistoric horse Eohippus , had a withers height of only 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 in). [ 5 ]
Gargantuavisis the largest known bird of the Mesozoic, a size ranging between the cassowaryand the ostrich, and a mass of 140 kg (310 lb) like modern ostriches.[491] In 2019 specimens MDE A-08 and IVPP-V12325 were measured at 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) in length, 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) in hip height, and 120 kg (260 lb) in weight.
The largest member of this group, Dunkleosteus, was a true "superpredator" of the latest Devonian period, reaching 3 to as much as 8 metres in length. In contrast, the long-nosed Rolfosteus measured just 15 cm. Fossils of Incisoscutum have been found containing unborn fetuses, indicating that arthrodires gave birth to live young.
Paraceratherium is one of the largest known land mammals that have ever existed, but its precise size is unclear because of the lack of complete specimens. [4] Its total body length was estimated as 8.7 m (28.5 ft) from front to back by Granger and Gregory in 1936, and 7.4 m (24.3 ft) by the palaeontologist Vera Gromova in 1959, [ 33 ] but the ...