5" Brontothere Fossil Vertebrae Bone Eocene Age Badlands S Dakota Titanothere COA

Location: White River Badlands, South Dakota

Weight: 2 Pounds 12.9 Ounces

Dimensions: 5 Inches Long, 4.3 Inches Wide, 3.1 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 roamed the Badlands were enormous mammals, standing around 8 feet tall and measuring up to 16 feet long, roughly the size of a modern large rhinoceros or small elephant. Despite their massive size in the late Eocene, these ancient creatures began as dog-sized animals during the early Eocene epoch. Over the course of 20 million years, brontotheres gradually evolved and diversified, steadily increasing in size as they adapted to their environments. By the late Eocene, they had reached the impressive proportions represented in the Badlands fossil record.

One of the most distinctive features of brontotheres is their paired blunt horns that extended from the nose. These horns developed from small nubs into massive structures, sometimes exceeding 3.3 feet (1 meter) in length in adult Badlands specimens. Horns generally varied by sex, with males sporting larger horns than females. While these impressive horns may evoke comparisons to modern rhinoceroses, brontotheres are only distant relatives. Fossil evidence from the Badlands also includes animals like Subhyracodon, which are true ancestors of modern rhinoceroses, offering a glimpse into the evolutionary history of the rhino family and the diversity of prehistoric North American ecosystems.