Sivatherium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sivatherium Fossil range: Pliocene to Holocene
Reconstruction of Sivatherium
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Giraffidae Subfamily: Sivatheriinae Genus: Sivatherium
Species
S. giganteum (type species)  ?S. hendeyi  ?S. maurusium  ?S. olduvaiense

Sivatherium ('Shiva's beast)' is an extinct genus of giraffe that ranged throughout Africa to Southern Asia (mostly India). The African species, S. maurusium, was once placed within the genus "Libytherium."

Sivatherium resembled the modern okapi, but was far larger, and more heavily built, being about 2.2 meters (7 ft 4 in) tall at the shoulder. It had a wide, antler-like pair of ossicones on its head, and a second pair of ossicones above its eyes. Its shoulders were very powerful to support the neck muscles required to lift the heavy skull.

[edit] References

• Barry Cox, Colin Harrison, R.J.G. Savage, and Brian Gardiner. (1999): The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life. Simon & Schuster.
• David Norman. (2001): The Big Book Of Dinosaurs. pg. 228, Walcome books.

This prehistoric mammal-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.