Woolly Rhinoceros

Woolly Rhinoceros
Front Back
Monsters of the Past
Previous	Baryonyx
Next	Scelidosaurus
Card	73
Creature Features
Species	Coelodonta antiquitatis
Size	Length Up to 12.5 ft.; Height up to 6.5 ft.; Weight up to 6,000 lbs.
Where?	Fossils have been found in northern Europe and Asia
Food	Grasses, plants and moss
Body parts	Shaggy fur, two large horns, bulky frame
Did You Know?
When the first woolly rhinoceros horns were found more than 100 years ago, people thought they were the claws of giant birds.

Imagine a modern rhino, beef it up a few thousand pounds, cover it in a fur overcoat and you have the woolly rhino. This beast braved some of the coldest temperatures ever known on Earth, during the last Ice Age. It lumbered across the frozen landscape and used its two sharp horns to help gather food and protect itself from predators, including humans. The woolly rhino was probably hunted to extinction by human hunters.

Shaggy: Scientists have found woolly rhinos preserved in ice, showing that they had a coat of thick underfur covered by another coat of long, shaggy hair to shield them from the bitter cold. The average temperature where these beasts lived was about 5°F.

Little Bighorn: Like some modern rhinos, this creature had two horns on its snout. The front horn was sharp and up to 3 feet long. The second was shorter, but thick. These were deadly weapons when used against attackers, such as saber-toothed tigers.

Beast Feast

Humans drew pictures of the woolly rhino about 12,000 years ago.

Cave paintings found in Europe and Asia show that the woolly rhinoceros was well known to early humans. This creature was hunted by cavemen, who teamed up against the beast, surrounding it and using spears and other primitive weapons against it. Meat from one woolly rhino could have fed a group of humans for weeks, and its furry hide was made into clothing to protect them from the frigid temperatures.

Snow Plow: Fossils of the woolly rhino's large horn had been ground flat in front, leading scientists to believe that the creature used it to plow snow out of their way and even break up the frozen soil to get to the grasses and plants growing in it.

Family Tree: The only modern hairy rhinoceros is the Sumatran rhino. This creature has a light covering of fur, has stumps for horns and is only half the size of the woolly rhino. This is the woolly rhino's closest living relative, though it is near extinction itself.

Timeline

The woolly rhinoceros lived 500,000 to 10,000 years ago, during the Quaternary Period.

Trading Card

Woolly Rhino The woolly rhino was bigger than its modern cousins, but had all the same weapons. Two sharp horns on its snout helped it find snow-covered food and gave enemies a reason not to attack it. Say What? This creature's teeth were hollow. Stats Life 120 Attack 4 Defense 7

Trivia

• The knowledge card says Woolly Rhinoceros. The trading card says Woolly Rhino.
• The woolly rhinoceros is featured on several Monster Mania cards:
  • It is first featured in Heavyweight Champions on Monster Mania 51.
  • It is then featured in Timeline Tracker on Monster Mania 57.
  • The woolly rhino's trading card is featured on Battle of the Monsters Variations 69 on Monster Mania 69.
• Sabertooth tigers are mentioned as the Woolly Rhinoceros' enemies. The Woolly Rhino's actual enemies are cave hyenas and cave lions.
• The first 'up' in "Size" is randomly capitalized.