New discovery, China also once existed giraffes with extremely weird heads

Giraffe has a tall body with a long neck and it is considered an endemic species and is also a representative species of Africa.

When a giraffe stands up, its head can be as high as 5 meters from the ground, which makes this species the tallest animal on land today.

If there were giraffes in the grasslands in Africa, it would probably not be a real African field because our lice are used to their presence in Africa and Africa only.

We will never think of giraffes that exist anywhere else except Africa and China. But in fact , about 5 million years ago, there was a giraffe that once lived in Shanxi, China.

This Chinese giraffe is known as Shansitherium and Shansi is Shanxi. The fossil of this giraffe was first discovered in Fugu district, Shanxi province, China, so the full name of this giraffe is Shansitherium fuguensis.

These giraffes have a rather strange look, because we are so accustomed to the African giraffe, so when we look at this picture we always feel like they are pulled out of the neck.

After discovering the fossils and restoring the images, perhaps everyone realized they looked like modern giraffes but a little different from their outward appearance.

The Chinese giraffe has legs and necks that are not as long as the modern giraffe in Africa, so many people have joked that this is a "dwarf mushroom" version of the giraffe .

Shanxi giraffes, in addition to having necks and legs shorter than modern giraffes, are much smaller, while modern giraffes are 4.2 m long, 5 - 6.1 tall and heavy. nearly 1 ton, they are only about 2.7 m long, height to the shoulders is 2 m and weighs 500 kg.

However, Shanxi giraffes still have 4 feet and neck longer than other animals, but at a glance they still seem a bit lumpy compared to their relatives.

In comparison, these giraffes are actually not much taller than one thought to be, their height from feet to shoulders is only 2m, far behind today's African giraffes.

Another interesting feature is that this species has up to 4 horns, while today's giraffe has only 2.Earth once existed another giraffe called Sivatherium, which lived between 5 million and 12,000 years ago.This animal has a height equivalent to 1.8m and weighs about 1.2 tons.Their horns are large and about 70cm long, growing from the top of the skull.In addition to the two main horns, they also have two smaller, pointed horns, which grow directly above the eyes.

Shanxi giraffe has two pairs of horns with two short ones in the front and a pair of long corners in the back.

In addition to differences in body shape, the most distinctive feature of Shanxi giraffes is the singularity on their heads. Instead of just one pair of horns like most modern herbivores, the head of the Shanxi giraffe has two pairs of horns with two short ones at the front and a pair of long corners at the back.

The role of these two pairs of horns is like a weapon used in the fight between males in mating season similar to today's giraffes.

The Shansitherium lived at the end of the Miocene 5 million years ago. At that time, the environment in Shanxi was much better than it is today. There are a large number of large mammals living in the jungle and savannah plains.

Shansitherium colonies will roam the prairies for food, with long necks, and they can feed on leaves that are inaccessible to other animals.

This is a great advantage of the Shansitherium species and also a common advantage of the giraffe family. When in danger, the Son Tay giraffes will choose to flee and now the long legs will really bring out their effects.

The Shansitherium will roam the prairies for a long neck.

From a taxonomic standpoint, Shansitherium belongs to the giraffe family that belongs to the Artiodactyla Ministry - the even clogs and giraffes that live in Africa today are considered to be their distant relatives.

Many people have said that Shansitherium is the ancestor of modern giraffes, but in fact this view is completely wrong because Shanxi giraffes are only represent giraffes that once lived in Asia, between them. only distant relations.

In fact, the oddly shaped Shansitherium is not the only giraffe that ever lived on Chinese soil.

In addition to them, there are still a number of other giraffe species such as Samotherium and Honanotherium (similar in appearance to modern African giraffes) that once lived on Chinese territory.

Compared to its giraffes with long and pointed skulls, this animal has a short and flat skull, shorter neck and a lower height.