| woolly rhinoceros | |
noun | |
| extinct thick-haired species of Arctic regions |
woolly rhinoceros
extinct species of rhinoceros found in fossil deposits of the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to 11,800 years ago) in Europe, North Africa, and Asia. It probably evolved from an earlier form, Dicerorhinus, somewhere in northeastern Asia, entered the European region, and became extinct at the end of the most recent ice age. Frozen carcasses of woolly rhinoceroses have been found preserved in Siberia, and others have been found well preserved in oil seeps in central Europe. The animal was massive, with two large horns toward the front of the skull, and covered with a thick coat of hair
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