The Dragon Of Austria !!

The Era of an icy climate.

The late Pleistocene Era is the earth's most recent ice age in which most of the earth’s crust was covered by ice. This era began to form 1.2 million years ago and ended just 11,000 years ago. During the Pleistocene period, a wide range of species adapted to the freezing climate. The majority of the animals have a thick coat of fur to keep their bodies warm. The woolly Rhinoceros is one of them.

Image credit: nature.com

Legend of the remains.

Woolly rhino fossils have been found all over the world and are well known. It was the foundation for the creation of numerous mythical creatures, such as dragons and griffins. The Siberians mistook a woolly rhino fossilized horn for the claws of a griffin. People in Austria assumed it was from a dragon, but later some people held that the remains were from a big bird and named it "griffin of anquity." A griffin is a legendary giant bird-like creature. After many years, paleontologists discovered the animal's skull and legs and found that it was not a bird, but a Rhinoceros. The animal was given the name Coelodonta antiquitatis. The name translates as "hollow-tooth of antiquity."

The 33 pound giant.

The woolly rhino's mummified bodies and cave paintings were extremely helpful in understanding this animal's story. The animal's cave paintings may be seen throughout Eurasia, indicating that woolly rhinos have spread widely throughout Eurasia. These animals lived in a same lifestyle as their modern relatives, the black and white rhinoceros. Females raised one or two cubs and might live for 40 years. Both sexes possessed two horns. The front horn grew to be at least one meter long and as long as 1.4 meters. It was 15 kilos in weight (33 pounds). It had a far more forward position than current rhinos. The back horn was a little shorter. With their strong bodies and the massive horns, adults had few predators to take care of, such as Smilodons (saber-toothed tigers), but the young animals had to take care of more predators like cave hyenas, cave lions, and bears. The animal's horns may be used to attack predators as well as to uncover vegetation from snow. Scientists believe it could also aid in the search for a mate. Bull woolly rhinos were most likely territorial, defending themselves from competition, especially during the rutting season. Some Fossil skulls show damages of a possible fight between two rhinos.

Image credits :rhinoresourcecenter.com

                     An adult woolly rhinoceros measures 3 to 3.8 meters from head to tail and weighs approximately 1,800–2,700 kg. It developed to be about the size of a white rhinoceros, standing 2 m tall at the shoulder. A one-month-old calf measured approximately 120 cm in length and 72 cm in height at the shoulder. Keratin was used to make the two horns, with one long horn stretching forward and a smaller horn between the eyes. The woolly rhinoceros has a longer head and body and shorter legs than other rhinoceroses. Its shoulder was lifted with a strong hump, which supported the animal's huge front horn. The hump also had a fat reserve to help it survive the harsh winters of the mammoth steppe. Woolly rhinos were extinct after a successful run around 11,000 years ago. Human overhunting and climate change are two potential extinction causes.