Copy of a rhinoceros cave painting from cave of Font-de-Gaume, Dordogne, France. Click on image for full size (223K JPG) Sketch by Lisa Gardiner

Scientists have been digging for days in Staffordshire, England and so far they have found the front half of a very well preserved woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquus) that lived at least 30,000 years ago. They expect that they will also find the bones of the rear half of the extinct animal with a bit more digging!

Today rhinos are not woolly at all and live only in warm places like Africa, but during the last Ice Age (about 50,000-10,000 years ago), woolly rhinos lived in cold European countries such as England. Alas, the woolly rhino no longer romps through northern Europe. The species became extinct about 10,000 years ago.

We know that humans interacted with woolly rhinos long ago because ancient humans made paintings of the animals on the walls of French and Spanish caves. The picture on the left is an example of what these ancient cave paintings look like.

The fossil woolly rhino is really amazing because the skeleton is very complete and well preserved. The bones were not chewed and broken into pieces by predators like most other woolly rhino bones that have been found in England. One of the rhinos even has plant material still stick to its teeth, giving possible clues to its last meal! “The reason it is so well preserved,” said paleontologist Andy Currant, “is probably because it froze immediately after it died and this stopped it being broken up.”

The fossilized woolly rhino bones that the scientists have found so far include the skull, lower jaw, vertebrae, three ribs, and large bones from both front legs. Since they started digging the fossil rhino, they have found in nearby rocks the fossils of three other rhinos and other large animals such as mammoth, reindeer, horse, bison as well as plant and insect fossils.

Copy of a rhinoceros cave painting from cave of Font-de-Gaume, Dordogne, France. Click on image for full size (223K JPG) Sketch by Lisa Gardiner

For days, scientists have been digging in an English quarry and so far they have dug the front half of a woolly rhinoceros out of rocks that are at least 30,000 years old. They expect that they will find the bones from the rear half of the extinct animal with a bit more digging!

Today rhinos are not woolly at all and they live in warm places like Africa, but during the last Ice Age (about 50,000 to 10,000 years ago), woolly rhinos lived in cold northern places such as England. Ancient humans living in Europe made paintings of woolly rhinos on the walls of caves that look like the picture on the left. There are no more woolly rhinos alive today. They became extinct about 10,000 years ago.

These woolly rhino fossils are really amazing because the skeleton is very complete and well preserved. The bones were not chewed and broken into pieces by predators like many other woolly rhino fossils. The fossils are so well preserved that there is even plant material still stuck to its teeth, giving clues to its last meal! “The reason it is so well preserved,” said paleontologist Andy Currant, “is probably because it froze immediately after it died and this stopped it being broken up.”

Since they started digging the fossil rhino, they have found in nearby rocks the fossils of three other rhinos and other large animals such as mammoth, reindeer, horse, and bison as well as plant and insect fossils.

Copy of a rhinoceros cave painting from cave of Font-de-Gaume, Dordogne, France. Click on image for full size (223K JPG) Sketch by Lisa Gardiner

Scientists in England have found some old bones! They found the fossil bones of an ancient woolly rhino that have been protected within rocks for thousands of years.

Today, rhinos live in warm places like Africa and are not woolly. But long ago, when Earth was very cold and a blanket of ice covered much of the land, rhinos covered with woolly hair lived in cold places like Europe.

People who lived in Europe long ago made paintings of woolly rhinos on the walls of caves like the picture on the left. There are no more woolly rhinos alive today. They became extinct about 10,000 years ago.

Since they started digging the fossil rhino out of the rocks, the scientists have found in nearby rocks the fossils of many other large animals including three other rhinos, a mammoth, a reindeer, a horse, and bison as well as many plant and insect fossils.