Protoceras

Taxobox
name = "Protoceras"

---

fossil_range = Late Oligocene to Early Miocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Artiodactyla
familia = †Protoceratidae
genus = "Protoceras"
genus_authority = Marsh, 1891
type_species = "Protoceras celer"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "P. celer"
* "P. neatodelpha"
* "P. skinneri"

"Protoceras" ('first horns') is an extinct genus of mammal. "Protoceras" was 1 m (3 ft 4 in) long and resembled a deer in terms of body shape. Like other protoceratids it had three pairs of strange, blunt horns on its skull. In life these were probably covered with skin, much like the horns of a giraffe (similar to their ossicones). "Protoceras" was sexually dimorphic - females only had one pair of horns (the one on the back of the skull), which was shorter than the same pair in males. Males probably used these horns for display, impressing females and/or intimidating rivals. Due to the orientation of the horns the males probably displayed them sideways instead of frontally. "Protoceras" was one of the earliest and most primitive protoceratids, still possessing upper incisors (these were gone in later genera) and four functional toes (later genera had only two functional, hooved toes).

ynonyms

*A genus of Ammonite also bore the name "Protoceras".