ISSN 10623590, Biology Bulletin, 2012, Vol. 39, No. 8, pp. 692–707. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2012. Original Russian Text © G.G. Boeskorov, 2012, published in Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 2012, Vol. 91, No. 2, pp. 219–235. Some Specific Morphological and Ecological Features of the Fossil Woolly Rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis Blumenbach 1799) G. G. Boeskorov Institute of Diamond and Precious Metal Geology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, 677007 Russia email:
[email protected] Received May 18, 2011 Abstract—The results of anatomical and morphological studies of new corpse remains of the fossil woolly rhinoceros found in 2007 in the lower reaches of the Kolyma River are described. These new data provide additional details of the specific features of the structures and sizes of individual body parts of the fossil rhi noceros and allow for several inferences on the specific adaptations of this species to the cold climate of the Ice Age. Palynological data for the stomach contents of the woolly rhinoceroses that lived during the Kargin ian interglacial period of the Late Pleistocene are given. It is been shown that herbs (cereals and forbs) account for the major part of the woolly rhinoceros diet. Keywords: woolly rhinoceros, Late Pleistocene, anatomy, morphology, ecology DOI: 10.1134/S106235901208002X Currently, there are five rhinoceros species living in when examining the bone remains and, especially, the tropical zones of Africa (two species) and South whole carcasses belonging to this species. Only four east Asia (three species). The extant rhinoceros are just findings of their whole carcasses are known. In Yaku remains of an oddtoed ungulate group once rich in tia, one carcass was found near the village of Verkh species.