Rhinotitan
Extinct genus of mammals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rhinotitan (nose giant) is an extinct genus of brontothere from the Eocene of Mongolia, with two valid species, R. andrewsi and R. kaiseni.[1] The genus included medium to large brontotheres which had long skulls with nasal horns. Like other solid-horned brontotheres, Rhinotitan was sexually dimorphic in horn size. In living mammals, this pattern is found in species that live in groups; males have the larger horns, and use them in ritualized combats with other males to decide control of territories that offer breeding access to females. Most horned brontotheres had dish-shaped skulls assumed to be adapted for such combats. However, the skull of Rhinotitan was concave only near the front; the top and back of the skull was rounded in a way similar to hornless brontotheres. The functional significance of this character is unknown.[2]
| Rhinotitan Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Skeletal mount, Paleozoological Museum of China. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Perissodactyla |
| Family: | †Brontotheriidae |
| Genus: | †Rhinotitan Granger and Gregory, 1943 |
| Species[1] | |
| |
It weighed 1.5 tons. Tooth analysis indicates that, like other brontotheres, it was a herbivore adapted to browse on leaves.
