Sivatherium

Taxobox
name = "Sivatherium"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Pliocene to Holocene

---

image_caption = Reconstruction of "Sivatherium"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Artiodactyla
familia = Giraffidae
subfamilia = Sivatheriinae
genus = "Sivatherium"
genus_authority = Falconer & Cautley, 1836 [ [http://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=checkTaxonInfo&is_real_user=1&taxon_no=42709 The Paleobiology Database] ]
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "S. giganteum" (type species)
* ?"S. hendeyi"
* ?"S. maurusium"
* ?"S. olduvaiense"

"Sivatherium " ('Shiva's beast)' is an extinct genus of giraffe that ranged throughout Africa to Southern Asia (mostly India). The African species, "S. maurusium", was once placed within the genus "Libytherium"."

Description

"Sivatherium" resembled the modern okapi, but was far larger, and more heavily built, being about 2.2 meters (7 ft 4 in) tall at the shoulder. It had a wide, antler-like pair of ossicones on its head, and a second pair of ossicones above its eyes. Its shoulders were very powerful to support the neck muscles required to lift the heavy skull.

In popular culture

Sivatherium was one of the 36 extinct animals in , It lives in the savannah biome and has skin texture similar to the Okapi.

References

*Barry Cox, Colin Harrison, R.J.G. Savage, and Brian Gardiner. (1999): "The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Creatures: A Visual Who's Who of Prehistoric Life". Simon & Schuster.
*David Norman. (2001): "The Big Book Of Dinosaurs". pg. 228, Walcome books.
*"After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals (Life of the Past)" by Donald R. Prothero
*"The Evolution of Artiodactyls" by Donald R. Prothero and Scott E. Foss
*"Vertebrate Palaeontology" by Michael J. Benton and John Sibbick
*"Evolving Eden: An Illustrated Guide to the Evolution of the African Large Mammal Fauna" by Alan Turner and Mauricio Anton
*"Classification of Mammals" by Malcolm C. McKenna and Susan K. Bell
*"The Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth, Second Edition" by Stephen Jay Gould
* "World Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures: The Ultimate Visual Reference To 1000 Dinosaurs And Prehistoric Creatures Of Land, Air And Sea ... And Cretaceous Eras (World Encyclopedia)" by Dougal Dixon
*"Eyewitness: Prehistoric Life" by William Lindsay
*"Walker's Mammals of the World (2-Volume Set) (Walker's Mammals of the World)" by Ronald M. Nowak
*"Horns, Tusks, and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals" by Donald R. Prothero and Robert M. Schoch

External links

* [http://www.gsi.gov.in/saketi.htm Sivatherium at the Saketi Fossil Park]
* [http://www.evolhum.cnrs.fr/geraads/aao/wsiva.htm Sivatherium]

Gallery