Bramatherium

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Bramatherium
Fossil range: Pliocene
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Giraffidae
Subfamily: Sivatheriinae
Genus: Bramatherium
Falconer 1845
Species
  • B. perimense Falconer 1845 (type species)
  • B. progressus
  • B. giganteus (Khan and Sarwar 2002)
  • B. megacephalum (Lydekker 1876)
  • B. grande (Lydekker 1880)
  • B. magnum (Pilgrim 1910)
  • B. suchovi Godina 1977

Bramatherium is an extinct genus of giraffe that ranged through out Asia, from India to Turkey. It is closely related to the larger Sivatherium.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The first part of Bramatherium's name, Brahma (Sanskrit masculine brahman-, nominative brahmā ब्रह्मा), is in reference to the Hindu god of creation. The second part, "therium", comes from the Greek word θηρίον (transliterated therion), meaning 'beast'.

[edit] Description

Bramatherium was built very similarly to Sivatherium. Alive, it would have resembled a heavily-built Okapi and had five ossicones, the anterior pair being large and horn-like, and the posterior three being small, and bump-like.

[edit] References

  • Falconer, H. (1845) “Description of some fossil remains of Deinotherium,

Giraffe, and other mammalia, from Perim Island, Gulf of Cambay, Western Coast of India”, J. Geol. Soc., 1, 356-372.

[edit] External links

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