File:Reconstruction of Megacerops robustus (fossil titanothere) (Oligocene; Nebraska, USA) (31898945540).jpg

Megacerops robustus (Marsh, 1887) - reconstruction of a fossil titanothere from the Oligocene of Nebraska, USA. (public display, Nebraska State Museum of Natural History, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA)

This species is also known as Brontops robustus.

From museum signage: "The bones of titanotheres have been found in great numbers in Sioux and Dawes Counties in northwestern Nebraska. The largest of these animals were over six feet high at the shoulders and exceeded in bulk the largest living rhinoceroses. They were the largest land mammals living in North America during their span in existence from Eocene through Early Oligocene. They became extinct at the end of the Early Oligocene about 31 million years ago.

They were odd-toed, hooved animals, related to rhinoceroses and horses, but not ancestral to any animals living today. Note that their teeth are very low-crowned, suggesting that they could eat only soft vegetation. The large bony knobs on the skull were present in both sexes and were probably covered with heavily calloused skin when they were alive. These knobs probably functioned as weapons in "butting contests".

Their eyes were small, and presumably weak, like the eyesight on rhinos. The reason for their extinction remains unknown. In Nebraska, titanothere fossils are found only in the Chadron Formation. "

Classification: Animalia, Chordata, Vertebrata, Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Titanotheriidae / Brontotheriidae

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