3.9" Brontothere Fossil Knee Bone Eocene Age Badlands S Dakota Titanothere COA

Location: White River Badlands, South Dakota

Weight: 11.6 Ounces

Dimensions: 3.9 Inches Long, 2.5 Inches Wide, 2.2 Inches Thick (Matrix)

Eocene Age, 56 to 33.9 million years Old.

Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

The item pictured is the one you will receive. 

Brontothere is an ancient mammal that roamed the area of Badlands National Park about 56-33.9 million years ago. Badlands brontotheres are also known as Megacerops coloradensis in scientific literature. Sometimes called “titanothere,” its name means “thunder beast,” referring to how a traveling herd of massive brontotheres may have sounded long ago, thundering through ancient environments.

Brontotheres that once roamed the Badlands grew to enormous sizes, reaching about 8 feet in height and 16 feet in length, comparable to a modern large rhinoceros or small elephant. Yet early Eocene brontotheres were much smaller, roughly the size of a dog. Over the following 20 million years, they gradually evolved and diversified, ultimately achieving the massive size seen in the late Eocene fossils from the Badlands.

Brontotheres are easily recognized by the paired blunt horns that protrude from their noses. Over time, these horns grew from small bumps into enormous structures, measuring more than 3.3 feet (1 meter) long in adult Badlands brontotheres. Male brontotheres typically had larger horns than females. Although these horns resemble those of modern rhinos, brontotheres are only distantly related. The Badlands fossil record also includes animals like Subhyracodon, which are the true ancestors of today’s rhinoceroses.