TOMSK, Jan 13 – RIA Tomsk. Paleontologists of Tomsk State University (TSU) together with colleagues from Kazakhstan found out that the remains of an ancient rhinoceros from Pavlodar region are more than 320 thousand years younger those, which were known earlier, the associate professor of the Tomsk higher education institution Andrey Shpansky reported.
"The sample was found near the settlement of Kozhamzhar; it is a skull fragment of Elasmotherium sibiricum – an ancient rhinoceros. I sent a piece of the skull to the Queen's University Belfast laboratory for the radiocarbon analysis. Elasmotherium is considered extinct about 350 thousand years ago, and the age of this skull is 26 thousand years", – Shpansky told.
He explained that in 2014 paleontologists of Institute of plant and animal ecology UB RAS (Yekaterinburg) carried out the radiocarbon analysis of the elasmotherium's remains from Kurgan and Sverdlovsk areas and concluded, that they belong animals, which age is from 29,5 to 44 thousand years.
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These data aren't published yet, however Tomsk scientists believe that it is already possible to talk about a refugia in the south of Western Siberia, which includes both Pavlodar and Kurgan regions, and east part of Sverdlovsk region. It means, it was the last elasmotherium's habitats, and it already died out in other areas at the same time.
"Elasmotherium sibiricum is compared to a unicorn because of a structure of the head and probably the only horn growing on a big dome-shaped eminence of the skull. It needed humidified habitats. Apparently, it managed to find the necessary environment in separate places, or it could migrate and live in more southern territories some time, where its remains were not found yet", - Shpansky noted.
The scientists also note, that elasmotherium from Kozhamzhar appeared to be not only the youngest geologically, but also the largest of known. "This rhinoceros skull is the biggest of described in literature today, but the proportions are typical. It is difficult to say, whether it can reflect, that it was geologically later ", - was told by Shpansky.