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Description
Uintatherium anceps

After the KT Extinction Event, the legendary sauropod and ceratopsian dinosaurs vanished from the planet. In there place, mammals were left to fill the niches that were vacated by these titanic herbivores. Following the first 10,000,000 years after the asteroid impact, large animals greater than 1,000lbs were uncommon. However, by the late Paleocene, a group of mammals eventually would rise up and become the first true megafaunal herbivores. These were known as the dinoceratans, large, rhino-like mammals except instead of the horned faces that rhinos possess, these beasts had knobs and incisors reminiscent of saber-toothed cats. Arguably the most famous of all was Uintatherium anceps.

Discovery and Naming:

In 1871, during the dawn of the Bone Wars, Othniel Charles Marsh uncovered the remains of a peculiar mammal near Fort Bridger Wyoming. At first, he dubbed the remains "Dinoceras" literally meaning Terrible Horn in Greek. However, another similar specimen was dubbed "Uintatherium" after the Unita Mountains in Wyoming and parts of Utah. It's now known that the former name as well as other names penned by both Marsh and his rival Edward Cope are synonymous, thus, they have been merged into one species, Uintatherium anceps. The species name meaning "two headed" in latin, possibly a reference to the knobs a top the skull which run symmetrically down the skull of this massive animal. While U.anceps is known from remains in America, another species U.insperatus was named in 1984. It's name is latin for unexpected, fitting since it was discovered in China, which was extremely unexpected to find an almost identical animal across in China.

Evolution:

For decades, this creature and the Dinoceratans were enigmas in evolution. Many paleontologists thought they were a sister group to the primitive cimolestans. These were pseudo-placental mammals that evolved during the Jurassic Period and would persist into the early Miocene. However, recent taxonomic and DNA studies indicate that these animals are actually a basal group of the Mesaxonians a massive group that includes the South American notoungulates, the marine desmostylians, and the modern day perissodactyls (Horses, Rhinos, and Tapirs).

Description:

In terms of size, it was around the size of a large rhino. Comparable to Indian or White Rhinos at around 2 tons and ~6.5ft at the shoulder. Furthermore, it weighed approximately 2 tons, an uncommon sight for such an animal in the Eocene. Living around 45,000,000-37,000,000 years ago in North America. A distinctive feature on this animal were the incisors. Studies on the skulls of these animals indicate that these were sexually dimorphic, with males having longer tusks than females. For years, paleoart has shown these formidable weapons were exposed and out for all to see. However, recent fossil finds have found evidence of a prominent bony flange that would have prevented this animal from closing its mouth all the way. Thus, it's possible that most, if not all of the animals' prominent tusks would have been concealed behind the lips of this animal. Equally as prominent as the incisors would have been the bony knobs atop the head. Running from the rear to a decent way down the snout. These too varied in size and shape. Paleontologists have theorized that these would have been used for both defense and combat between rival males when they competed for mates. Whether or not this was a sexually dimorphic as well, is not known. Also, compared to rhinos, their sternum was structured differently, compared to Uintatherium made up of horizontal and not vertical segments, and the feet were different as well. Featuring hooves and not the larger pads that are seen on rhinos.

Habitat and contemporaries:

Fossils of this species in particular have been found predominantly in the mountains of North America, namely in the states of Utah and Wyoming. At this time, in between the young Rocky Mountains would have been far more lush than today. The environment would have resembled some delta regions in subtropical regions across the globe. Rivers, wetlands, and dense subtropical forests would have dominated the landscape. This would have been the perfect habitat for this massive animal. At 2 tons, it would have filled the niche of large megafaunal herbivore like an elephant or rhinoceros. They were probably browsing animals, likely using their tusks to clip vegetation or shear branches. A fully grown adult would have been essentially immune to predation. However, juveniles could have been preyed upon by creodonts, namely the cougar-sized Patriofelis as well as some crocodilians whose fossils have been found in the region.

Extinction:

Dinoceratans like Uintatherium were among the first megafaunal mammals that inhabited the planet, however, this species would ultimately vanish from the fossil record around 37,000,000 years ago. Its cause of extinction is believed to be climate change as the forested and subtropical environments would cool, marking the end of these awesome beasts. By the mid Eocene ~35,000,000 years ago, Dinoceratans themselves would become extinct. Their niches being filled by the proboscideans and perissodactyls that were starting to assert their dominance across the globe.
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Another week, another Paleoprofile. This one is a fascinating animal. Now, I should note, the exposed incisors which I even mentioned (probably) wouldn't have been exposed. Well, I'm shifting over to a new PC after the next episode of PMP. And Blender is giving me trouble. When I get the thing working, I'll just shroud the tusks with skin and I'll update it. Thanks to artbyjrc for that info too BTW. Here's his work of art on the Dinoceratans as a whole:
The terrible horns - Uintatheres by artbyjrc on DeviantArt

Will this be in PMP? No. As interesting as the Bridger formation is, I've got another location in mind for S2 of PMP.
Sidenote: In terms of where PMP is at right now, I've got pt4 nearly done, just have 2 more shots I have to do. I'm gonna try and get it done by Halloween and close out ep3 a couple of weeks later. Then I think I'm going to go on hiatus until I get the maps, script and animals done. I've just been really busy, my Grandmother dying really did a number on me, and I've had a lot of RL Issues to deal with.

Models and Skins by wildman1411
Uintatherium (Bill) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom

Description
Uintatherium anceps

After the KT Extinction Event, the legendary sauropod and ceratopsian dinosaurs vanished from the planet. In there place, mammals were left to fill the niches that were vacated by these titanic herbivores. Following the first 10,000,000 years after the asteroid impact, large animals greater than 1,000lbs were uncommon. However, by the late Paleocene, a group of mammals eventually would rise up and become the first true megafaunal herbivores. These were known as the dinoceratans, large, rhino-like mammals except instead of the horned faces that rhinos possess, these beasts had knobs and incisors reminiscent of saber-toothed cats. Arguably the most famous of all was Uintatherium anceps.

Discovery and Naming:

In 1871, during the dawn of the Bone Wars, Othniel Charles Marsh uncovered the remains of a peculiar mammal near Fort Bridger Wyoming. At first, he dubbed the remains "Dinoceras" literally meaning Terrible Horn in Greek. However, another similar specimen was dubbed "Uintatherium" after the Unita Mountains in Wyoming and parts of Utah. It's now known that the former name as well as other names penned by both Marsh and his rival Edward Cope are synonymous, thus, they have been merged into one species, Uintatherium anceps. The species name meaning "two headed" in latin, possibly a reference to the knobs a top the skull which run symmetrically down the skull of this massive animal. While U.anceps is known from remains in America, another species U.insperatus was named in 1984. It's name is latin for unexpected, fitting since it was discovered in China, which was extremely unexpected to find an almost identical animal across in China.

Evolution:

For decades, this creature and the Dinoceratans were enigmas in evolution. Many paleontologists thought they were a sister group to the primitive cimolestans. These were pseudo-placental mammals that evolved during the Jurassic Period and would persist into the early Miocene. However, recent taxonomic and DNA studies indicate that these animals are actually a basal group of the Mesaxonians a massive group that includes the South American notoungulates, the marine desmostylians, and the modern day perissodactyls (Horses, Rhinos, and Tapirs).

Description:

In terms of size, it was around the size of a large rhino. Comparable to Indian or White Rhinos at around 2 tons and ~6.5ft at the shoulder. Furthermore, it weighed approximately 2 tons, an uncommon sight for such an animal in the Eocene. Living around 45,000,000-37,000,000 years ago in North America. A distinctive feature on this animal were the incisors. Studies on the skulls of these animals indicate that these were sexually dimorphic, with males having longer tusks than females. For years, paleoart has shown these formidable weapons were exposed and out for all to see. However, recent fossil finds have found evidence of a prominent bony flange that would have prevented this animal from closing its mouth all the way. Thus, it's possible that most, if not all of the animals' prominent tusks would have been concealed behind the lips of this animal. Equally as prominent as the incisors would have been the bony knobs atop the head. Running from the rear to a decent way down the snout. These too varied in size and shape. Paleontologists have theorized that these would have been used for both defense and combat between rival males when they competed for mates. Whether or not this was a sexually dimorphic as well, is not known. Also, compared to rhinos, their sternum was structured differently, compared to Uintatherium made up of horizontal and not vertical segments, and the feet were different as well. Featuring hooves and not the larger pads that are seen on rhinos.

Habitat and contemporaries:

Fossils of this species in particular have been found predominantly in the mountains of North America, namely in the states of Utah and Wyoming. At this time, in between the young Rocky Mountains would have been far more lush than today. The environment would have resembled some delta regions in subtropical regions across the globe. Rivers, wetlands, and dense subtropical forests would have dominated the landscape. This would have been the perfect habitat for this massive animal. At 2 tons, it would have filled the niche of large megafaunal herbivore like an elephant or rhinoceros. They were probably browsing animals, likely using their tusks to clip vegetation or shear branches. A fully grown adult would have been essentially immune to predation. However, juveniles could have been preyed upon by creodonts, namely the cougar-sized Patriofelis as well as some crocodilians whose fossils have been found in the region.

Extinction:

Dinoceratans like Uintatherium were among the first megafaunal mammals that inhabited the planet, however, this species would ultimately vanish from the fossil record around 37,000,000 years ago. Its cause of extinction is believed to be climate change as the forested and subtropical environments would cool, marking the end of these awesome beasts. By the mid Eocene ~35,000,000 years ago, Dinoceratans themselves would become extinct. Their niches being filled by the proboscideans and perissodactyls that were starting to assert their dominance across the globe.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Another week, another Paleoprofile. This one is a fascinating animal. Now, I should note, the exposed incisors which I even mentioned (probably) wouldn't have been exposed. Well, I'm shifting over to a new PC after the next episode of PMP. And Blender is giving me trouble. When I get the thing working, I'll just shroud the tusks with skin and I'll update it. Thanks to artbyjrc for that info too BTW. Here's his work of art on the Dinoceratans as a whole:
The terrible horns - Uintatheres by artbyjrc on DeviantArt

Will this be in PMP? No. As interesting as the Bridger formation is, I've got another location in mind for S2 of PMP.
Sidenote: In terms of where PMP is at right now, I've got pt4 nearly done, just have 2 more shots I have to do. I'm gonna try and get it done by Halloween and close out ep3 a couple of weeks later. Then I think I'm going to go on hiatus until I get the maps, script and animals done. I've just been really busy, my Grandmother dying really did a number on me, and I've had a lot of RL Issues to deal with.

Models and Skins by wildman1411
Uintatherium (Bill) | ZT2 Download Library Wiki | Fandom