Life-size model of an Indricotherium at the American Museum of Natural History’s Extreme Mammal exhibit, May 2009. Photo courtesy of AMNH.
From the needs to be created Department of Lance Loves Science and There’s Still a Part of Him that Wishes He’d Gone Down that Path, Brian Switek writing at Tor:
Dinosaurs are great. They dominated the world for over 170 million years, and one line has survived to the present day as birds. But they’re hardly the be-all and end-all of prehistory. In the wake of the mass extinction that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals proliferated into a variety of astounding forms that were just as fantastic as those of the dinosaurs they succeeded. Instead of letting them be persistently overshadowed by dinosaurs, it’s time to give fossil mammals their due.
From there, Brian goes on to give Uintatherium, Andrewsarchus, Amphicyon, Gigantopithecus, Amebelodon, Paraceratherium, Thalassocnus, Maiacetus, Doedicurus, and Homotherium their dues.
No mention of Indricotherium though. Oh well. Still a fun post. Read the whole thing, Ten Fossil Mammals as Awesome as Any Dinosaur.
You might also want to check out Brian’s book, My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs.
And if that’s not enough paleontological thrills and excitement for you, here’s my post on my visit to the AMNH’s Extreme Mammal exhibit back in 2009, Endless forms most beautiful.
Learning something new update: Brian checked in via Twitter to let me know Indricotherium does get its due but under its proper name, Paraceratherium.
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