Extinct rhino skeleton, Menoceras arikarense

Common Name: Extinct rhino skeleton
Scientific Name: Menoceras arikarense
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Perissodactyla
Family: Rhinocerotidae
Image Number: ROM2007_9522_18

Description:
Complete fossil skeletons of individual animals are exceedingly rare. Most skeletons on display in museums are composites, put together using bones from more than one incomplete individual. This Menoceras skeleton is a composite, having been assembled from a large bonebed, a portion of which is also displayed in the Gallery of the Age of Mammals. Sorting through jumbled bones and making composite mounts can be a time-consuming chore.

Rhinos were common and diverse in North America for much of the Age of Mammals, only becoming extinct here about 5 million years ago. Many have "horns", but rhino horn is not a true horn because it is made from compacted hair, and so does not usually fossilize.