Prolibytherium

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Prolibytherium
Fossil range: Early Miocene
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Climacoceratidae
Genus: Prolibytherium

Prolibytherium ("Before Libya's Beast") is an extinct artiodactyl ungulate native to Early Miocene Africa.

The 1.80 m (6 ft) long creature was related to the modern giraffe and okapi. Unlike these, however, Prolibytherium had a set of large, leaf-shaped horns with a width of 35 cm (1 ft 2 in). These were probably used for display and fights, much like the antlers of a deer.

It was once regarded as a giraffid. Namely, it was once regarded as the ancestral form of the African form of Sivatherium, when it was referred to as "Libytherium." Prolibytherium is now regarded as a climacoceratid, due to the formation of its wide, palmate ossicones.