Stephanorhinus

Stephanorhinus or Merck's rhinoceros is an extinct genus of rhinoceros native to northern Eurasia that lived during the Lower to Early Late Pleistocene epoch. It had two horns and was a relatively large rhino. It weighed over 3,000 kg (6,600 lbs) and measured about 1.80 metres (5.9 ft) tall and 3.20 metres (10.5 ft) in length, having a size similar to a white rhino.

Species and distribution

In the Late Pleistocene, there were two species of Stephanorhinus in Eurasia, the large Merck's rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis) and the narrow-nosed rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus hemiotoechus). Both species may have evolved from Stephanorhinus etruscus. However, it remains unclear whether another species, Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis, also fits in this evolutionary line. This rhino, which lived in the Early and Middle Pleistocene in the western Palaearctic, could also have been a European side branch, derived from the Pliocene rhino Stephanorhiuns jeanvireti. It was probably a relatively unspecialised animal, evolved for grazing and browsing. When about 600,000 years ago the two new rhino species S. kirchbergensis and S. hemiotechus arrived in Europe, it disappeared. The arrival of a specialised browser and a specialised grazer was probably hard competition for this generalist.