That rhino ancestor, that's a 44 ton land mammal... I had no idea that was possible. Truly fascinating.
And that's assuming that the animal isn't "chonkier" than the fossils demand. We generally underestimate the weight of prehistoric species because the bones don't provide sufficient proof that the creature had extra fat or muscle tissue. So any size larger than the minimum the bones could suggest is speculative. - But that doesn't mean they weren't larger, we just can't assert that they were.
5 Comments
cjoll4@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 169d
The last one is a trip! Interesting to see that whales broke the mold by getting larger over time instead of getting smaller
lmmarsano@group.lt · 3 pts · 169d
How many of them went extinct during humanity?
Eavesy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 169d
The water king penguin became extinct 36 million years ago
Shellbeach@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 169d
I made the same face as the human silhouette when seeing the hell pig.
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 168d
That rhino ancestor, that's a 44 ton land mammal... I had no idea that was possible. Truly fascinating.
And that's assuming that the animal isn't "chonkier" than the fossils demand. We generally underestimate the weight of prehistoric species because the bones don't provide sufficient proof that the creature had extra fat or muscle tissue. So any size larger than the minimum the bones could suggest is speculative. - But that doesn't mean they weren't larger, we just can't assert that they were.