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Some specific morphological and ecological features of the fossil woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach 1799)

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Abstract

The results of anatomical and morphological studies of new corpse remains of the fossil woolly rhinoceros found in 2007 in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River are described. These new data provide additional details of the specific features of the structures and sizes of individual body parts of the fossil rhinoceros and allow for several inferences on the specific adaptations of this species to the cold climate of the Ice Age. Palynological data for the stomach contents of the woolly rhinoceroses that lived during the Karginian interglacial period of the Late Pleistocene are given. It is been shown that herbs (cereals and forbs) account for the major part of the woolly rhinoceros diet.

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Correspondence to G. G. Boeskorov.

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Original Russian Text © G.G. Boeskorov, 2012, published in Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 2012, Vol. 91, No. 2, pp. 219–235.

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Boeskorov, G.G. Some specific morphological and ecological features of the fossil woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach 1799). Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 39, 692–707 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S106235901208002X

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