Teleoceras
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Extinct (fossil)
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Teleoceras hicksi |
Teleoceras is an extinct genus of grazing rhinoceros that lived in North America during the Miocene epoch, which ended about 5.3 million years ago. Teleoceras had shorter legs than modern rhinos, and a barrel chest, making its build more like that of a hippopotamus than a modern rhino. Like the hippo, it was also semi-aquatic. Teleoceras had a single small nasal horn.
Teleoceras is the most common fossil in the Ashfall Fossil Beds of Nebraska. In fact, its remains were so numerous and concentrated that the building housing the greatest concentraion of Ashfall fossils is dubbed the "Rhino Barn". Most of the skeletons are preserved in a nearly-complete state. One extraordinary specimen includes the remains of a Teleoceras calf trying to suckle from its mother.
