Why did Sivatherium go extinct?
The last Sivatherium populations went extinct at the close of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, victims of human depredation as well as environmental change, as warming temperatures in the northern hemisphere restricted its territory and its available sources of forage.
Is Sivatherium extinct?
Sivatherium (“Shiva’s beast”, from Shiva and therium, Latinized form of Ancient Greek θηρίον – thēríon) is an extinct genus of giraffids that ranged throughout Africa to the Indian subcontinent.
Is there a prehistoric giraffe?
A prehistoric giraffe that died out 10,000 years ago might have been the largest ruminant that walked the Earth. Sivatherium was a giant relative of modern giraffes, living over one million years ago in both Africa and Asia. Unlike the giraffes of today, Sivatherium had a short neck, with short, stocky legs.
What animal species is a giraffe?
Giraffa camelopardalis
Currently, giraffes are all know as species Giraffa camelopardalis, and up to 11 sub-species are recognized, including the Nubian giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis camelopardalis).
What kind of diet did the Sivatherium have?
The diet of Sivatherium most likely consisted of nothing but grass. And it probably would have needed quite a bit of it. For an animal that size, it would have probably have needed to consume 50 to 100 pounds of grass a day to live.
What kind of animal was the Sivatherium?
Sivatherium is an extinct girafid that live approximately 5 million to 10,000 years ago – during the Late Pliocene Period through the Modern Period. It was an animal that lived from Africa and down all the way to India.
How tall was a Sivatherium at the shoulder?
Sivatherium resembled the modern okapi, but was far larger, and more heavily built, being about 2.7 meters tall at the shoulder, 3 m in total height with a weight up to 700 kg. It had a wide, antler-like pair of ossicones on its head, and a second pair of ossicones above its eyes.
Where did the Sivatherium giraffids come from?
S. hendeyi Harris, 1976 Sivatherium (“Shiva’s beast”, from Shiva and therium, Latinized form of Ancient Greek θηρίον – thēríon) is an extinct genus of giraffids that ranged throughout Africa to the Indian subcontinent.
