The narrow-nosed rhinoceros (''Stephanorhinus hemitoechus'') is an extinct species of

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family (biology), family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member ...

that lived in western

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

. It first appeared in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

some 600,000 years ago, and survived there until as recently as 40,000 years

Before Present Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...

Description

The narrow-nosed rhinoceros was a large animal, reaching a shoulder height of as much as . It can be distinguished from other species of ''

Stephanorhinus ''Stephanorhinus'' is an extinct genus of two-horned rhinoceros native to Eurasia and North Africa that lived during the Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Species of ''Stephanorhinus'' were the predominant and often only species of rhinoceros in muc ...

'' by its very long and low skull. Its nasals are relatively low, and its horn base poorly developed. Teeth are forward shifting. The narrow-nosed rhinoceros probably favored temperate open areas rich in low-growing vegetation. It displayed many similarities to its better known extinct relative, the

woolly rhinoceros The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period. The woolly rhinoceros was a me ...

. However, it was probably not a true grazer, but a mixed feeder, eating low-growing vegetation in open habitats. In Apulia in southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, remains of narrow-nosed rhinoceros from the middle Late Pleistocene were found to be smaller than those of other areas, indicating they may have been an insular form.

Age and distribution

From the late Middle Pleistocene onwards, the narrow-nosed rhinoceros and its relative, the Merck's rhinoceros were the only surviving species of ''Stephanorhinus''. In comparison to the widespread Merck's rhinoceros, the narrow-nosed rhinoceros was generally confined to the western

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

.Diana Pushkina: ''The Pleistocene easternmost distribution in Eurasia of the species associated with the Eemian'' Palaeoloxodon antiquus ''assemblage.'' Mammal Review, 2007. Volume 37 Issue 3, Pages 224 - 245 In North Africa, the youngest remains of the narrow-nosed rhinoceros date to between 109 and 53 kya. The narrow-nosed rhinoceros survived until around 40 kya in southern Europe. The last records in Italy date to around 41,000 years ago., while remains dating to 40,000 years ago are knowns from

Bacho Kiro cave The Bacho Kiro cave () is situated west of the town Dryanovo, Bulgaria, only away from the Dryanovo Monastery. It is embedded in the canyons of the Andaka and Dryanovo River. It was opened in 1890 and the first recreational visitors entered the ...

in Bulgaria.

Human exploitation

Specimens of ''S. hemitoechus'' from the Middle Pleistocene ( MIS 12, 478,000-424,000 years ago) Caune de l'Arago site in Southern France shows extensive evidence of butchery by hominins. The ratios of skeletal elements implies that only the parts of the body with the most meat were carried to the site. The profile of ages of rhino bones in the cave resembles natural mortality curves, suggesting that there was not selective hunting, and the fact that marks of other carnivores are rare implies that the carcasses were acquired by active scavenging or opportunistic hunting.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2345315 Pleistocene rhinoceroses Prehistoric mammals of Europe Pleistocene mammals of Europe Prehistoric mammals of Asia Pleistocene mammals of Asia Prehistoric mammals of Africa Pleistocene mammals of Africa Pleistocene extinctions