Big Prehistoric Mammalian Herbivores ~

[hibernours]

(11-14-2019, 07:35 PM)Spalea Wrote: Brontotherium: The brontotheridae lived on Earth from the Eocene (50 millions years ago) to the Oligocene (28 millions years ago), brontotherium was one of the last species. Ancestors of the modern rhinoceros. Brontotherium had 2m50 high and 4m30 long. Its dentition allowed them to eat soft grass only. That was perhaps the main cause of their desappearance.

The brontotheridae are quite fascinating to me and recently there was a recent study which explains the gigantism in this family. The Cope's rule is in reality not a law but a statistical tendancy and this paper shows us that each time there was a speciation event, these animals didn't necessarily chose the way of gigantism but that systematically the smaller species became extinct.

A macroevolutionary pathway to megaherbivory - 2023.

Here is the supplementary materials for this study:

Supplementary Materials for A macroevolutionary pathway to megaherbivory
Oscar Sanisidro, Matthew C. Mihlbachler, Juan L. Cantalapiedra
Corresponding author: Oscar Sanisidro, [email protected]
Science 380, 616 (2023)
DOI: 10.1126/science.ade1833

And on figure S8, we can see that the largest specimens were around 4000kg, but i think this volumetric estimate was based on dental dimensions and i don't know if dental dimensions are good parameters to evaluate mass in herbivorous animals... Reply