| Shrub-ox Temporal range: early to late Pleistocene |
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|---|---|
| Restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Caprinae |
| Genus: | †Euceratherium Furlong & Sinclair, 1904 |
| Species: | †E. collinum |
| Binomial name | |
| Euceratherium collinum Owen, 1838 |
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The shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) (= Preptoceras, Aftonius) is an extinct genus and species of Bovidae native to North America. It is a close relative of the musk-ox.
Euceratherium was one of the first bovids to enter North America. It appeared on this continent during the early Pleistocene, long before the first bison arrived from Eurasia. It went extinct about 11,500 years ago.
Late Pleistocene shrub-ox remains are known from fossil finds spanning from northern California to central Mexico. In the East they were distributed at least into Illinois.
Euceratherium was massively built and in size between a modern American bison and a musk ox. On the basis of preserved dung pellets, it has been established that they were browsers with a diet of trees and shrubs.[1] They seem to have preferred hilly landscapes.