Coelodonta antiquitatis

Coelodonta antiquitatis, commonly known as the woolly rhinoceros, was an extinct species of rhinoceros that lived during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs (5.3 million to 11,700 years ago) across Europe, North Africa, and Asia. This massive animal was covered in thick hair and possessed two large horns on its skull.1

The woolly rhinoceros inhabited grasslands and was a subject for Stone Age artists, with some of their depictions being remarkably accurate. Evidence suggests that woolly rhinoceroses likely went extinct due to rapid climate changes associated with the end of the last ice age, rather than human hunting. Frozen carcasses found in Siberia and preserved remains in European oil seeps provide much of our knowledge about this species.1