The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) is an extinct species of rhinoceros that inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch. The woolly rhinoceros was large, comparable in size to the largest living rhinoceros species, the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum), and covered with long, thick hair that allowed it to survive in the extremely cold, harsh mammoth steppe. It had a massive hump reaching from its shoulder and fed mainly by grazing on herbaceous plants that grew in the steppe. Mummified carcasses preserved in permafrost and many bone remains of woolly rhinoceroses have been found. Images of woolly rhinoceroses are found among cave paintings in Europe and Asia, and evidence has been found suggesting that the species was hunted by humans. Like other Pleistocene megafauna, the species became extinct as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event. The range of the woolly rhinoceros contracted towards Siberia beginning around 17,000 years ago, with the youngest reliable records being around 14,000 years old in northeast Siberia, coinciding with the Bølling–Allerød warming, which likely disrupted its...

For millions of years, the woolly rhinoceros roamed the planet during the Ice Ages. Today, scientists are still teasing apart their mysterious origins and eventual demise.

Decoded genome of meat in pup’s stomach helps scientists build picture of what caused extinction of species

More than 14,000 years ago, a wolf pup ate a piece of woolly rhino. Scientists have analyzed the rhino's DNA to figure out why it went extinct.

A piece of woolly rhinoceros flesh hidden inside a wolf that died 14,400 years ago has yielded genetic information that improves our understanding of why one of the most iconic megafauna species of the last glacial period went extinct

DNA found inside an Ice Age wolf challenges what we thought about how woolly rhinos died out.

A local resident stumbled upon the remains of the 19,700-year-old beast. Its record-breaking horn offers new insights into life in the Ice Age.

A rare sample from a woolly rhinoceros reveals how the population changed in the lead-up to the species’ extinction.