Prolibytherium
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| Prolibytherium Fossil range: Early Miocene |
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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 ossicones 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 species of Sivatherium (S. maurusium), when it was originally described as "Libytherium." Prolibytherium is now regarded as a climacoceratid, due to the formation of its wide, palmate ossicones.
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