Paraceratherium, the Largest Land Mammal that Ever Lived

Paraceratherium was about 18 feet tall (from ground to shoulder) and about 25 feet long (not including its tail). Its skull was between 4 and 7 feet long. Estimates of its weight range from 8 to 20 tons.

The largest land mammal to ever live on Earth, Paraceratherium was as big as a large dinosaur and four times as large as a modern elephant.

The name Paraceratherium is Greek for "like a horned animal" - a reference to the fact that it was like a rhinoceros, but hornless.

It lived in Asia between 37 million and 23 million years ago.

Fossils of Paraceratherium have been found in Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia.

Paraceratherium is also known as Baluchitherium (sometimes spelled Baluchiterium), for the province of Baluchistan in Pakistan, where fossils were first discovered.

Yet another name for Paraceratherium is Indricotherium. This name comes from a legendary Russian creature known as the Indrik, who ruled all the other animals on Earth.

Paraceratherium was related to the rhinoceroses, but had no horns.

Paraceratherium was an ungulate (a mammal with hoofs). It belonged to the order Perissodactyla - odd-toed ungulates - which also includes modern rhinoceroses and horses.

Paraceratherium was herbivorous.

It had long legs and a long, flexible neck - similar to a giraffe's neck - which allowed it to reach leaves and twigs in trees. It had strong, flexible upper lips, similar to those of a modern rhino, and two large front teeth that resembled tusks. It used its lips to grab onto vegetation and then tore it off with its front teeth.

When Paraceratherium was alive, its habitat consisted of subtropical forests.

Scientists believe that Paraceratherium may have become extinct when the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia, causing the Himalayas to rise up. This caused the Earth to become dryer and cooler, which may have caused the plants that Paraceratherium ate to become extinct.