Cainotherium commune

Taxobox
name = "Cainotherium"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Late Oligocene to Early Miocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Artiodactyla
subordo = Ruminantia
familia = Cainotheriidae
genus = "Cainotherium"
species = "C. commune"
binomial = "Cainotherium commune"
binomial_authority = Bravard, 1828

"Cainotherium commune" was a small, rabbit-sized, herbivore that lived in Europe during the Oligocene. It is believed that the 30 cm (1 ft) long "Cainotherium" was an even-toed ungulate, usually placed in the suborder Tylopoda, along with modern camelids. It had cloven hooves, similar to those of bovids or deer, although the shape and length of its limbs suggests that it moved by leaping, like a rabbit. The shape of the teeth also suggests a rabbit-like diet, while the size of the auditory bulla and shape of the brain suggest that it would have had good senses of hearing and smell. It may even have had rabbit-like ears. It had no known close relativescite book |author= Savage, RJG, & Long, MR|year=1986 |title= Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide|publisher= Facts on File|location=New York|pages= 214|isbn= 0-8160-1194-X] [cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|pages= 270|isbn= 1-84028-152-9] .

References