| Bramatherium Temporal range: Late Miocene – Pliocene | |
|---|---|
| |
| A restoration of Bramatherium perimense | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Giraffidae |
| Genus: | †Bramatherium Falconer, 1845 |
| Type species | |
| †Bramatherium perimense Falconer 1845 | |
| Referred species | |
| |
Bramatherium is an extinct genus of giraffe that ranged from India to Turkey in Asia. It is closely related to the larger Sivatherium.
Naming[]
The first part of the generic name, Brahma, is in reference to the Hindu God of creation . The second part, "therium", is a Greek word 'meaning 'beast'.
Description[]
Bramatherium is a representative sivatheriine with very unusual horns. In Sivatherium it is usually more developed with very large rear ossicones, while Bramatherium has them at the front. Most likely these horns was a demo feature, although it is possible that they use them automatically to pick up in fights between males: with a massive base of ossicones and sent to the rear pair. Bramatherium were very large ungulate mammals and reached 2.5 m in height at the shoulders, for not very long legs and neck. It inhabited dry savannahs and open woodlands and they ate leaves and twigs off trees and shrubs. Bramatherium was built very similarly to Sivatherium. Alive, it would have resembled a heavily-built Okapi and had five ossicones, the anterior pair being large and horn-like, and the posterior three being small, and bump-like.
