Remains of 26.5-million-year-old giant, hornless rhino discovered in China

In a new study, the remains of a 26.5-million-year-old giant, hornless rhino one of the largest mammals ever to walk Earth have been discovered in northwestern China. The species is thought to have lived primarily in parts of Asia such as modern-day China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan.

The discovered relics belong to two Giant Rhinos. Among the two, one fossil consists of a skull, jawbone, and teeth, and the atlas vertebra part of the skeleton, which links the head to the spine.

The unearthed fossilised skeletons date back to 26.5 million years and fall in the time period known as the Late Oligocene, which ranges from 33.9 million to 23 million years ago, much later than the age of dinosaurs that went extinct around 66 million years ago.

The researchers conclude that this ancient giant stood 20 feet tall with a mass of roughly 20 tonnes, equivalent to three to five African elephants.

Giant rhinos migrated from the Mongolian Plateau, towards northwest China and Kazakhstan. They roamed parts of Pakistan via Tibet. This resulted in the widespread distribution of the various genus of these rhinos during the Oligocene.

The gigantic species came to light thanks to well-preserved fossils from the Linxia Basin in Gansu Province, China collected back in 2015. The site is located on the northeastern border of the Tibetan Plateau and has been a treasure trove of ancient fossils since the 1950s.

The team of scientists, led by Tao Deng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, searched for fossils in this site since the 1980s.