Paleontologists in China have found a new species of gigantic rhino, the world’s biggest land mammal, even taller than a giraffe over 18 feet tall.

According to a news statement issued by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Friday, giant rhinos, known as Paraceratherium, were mostly located in Asia.

A Chinese and American team led by Deng Tao of the academy’s Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) examined remains unearthed in 2015 and called the new species, Paraceratherium linxiaense, or Linxia Giant Rhino.

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“Usually fossils come in pieces, but this one is complete, with a very complete skull and a very complete jaw, which is rare,” Deng told CNN.

“The skull was more than a meter (three feet) long, and it was very rare for a skull of that size to be preserved. We also found the cervical spine,” he said.

The fossils were discovered in Gansu Province, northwest China, and genetic research revealed that they belonged to a new gigantic rhino species.

Deng told CNN that the massive creature would have weighed 24 tonnes and been the size of six elephants. He stated that the creature’s shoulders were more than 16 feet off the ground, its head was 23 feet tall, and its body was 26 feet long.

Adult male giraffes may grow to be over 18 feet tall, while females grow to be approximately 14 feet tall.

He went on to say that it mostly dwelt in China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan, with a handful in Eastern Europe.

“This is the largest mammal ever to have lived on land,” Deng said.

It mainly lived in China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Pakistan, with a few in Eastern Europe, he added.

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Around 31 million years ago, giant rhinos roamed the Tibetan plateau’s northern reaches before moving southwest to Kazakhstan and ultimately Pakistan.

The Linxia Giant Rhino is a descendant of the Pakistani Giant Rhino. On their route north to Linxia, they would have had to cross the Tibetan plateau, which would have been lower than it is now, according to Deng.

“In addition, animal migration is linked to climate change. So 31 million years ago, when the Mongolian plateau dried up, they moved south,” he added.

“Then the weather got wet and they went back to the north. Therefore, this discovery is of great significance to the study of the whole plateau uplift process, climate, and environment,” he said.

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Communications Biology published the research. In the Lujiatun Beds, the earliest levels of the renowned Yixian Formation in northeastern China, archaeologists uncovered two well-preserved fossils of a new 125 million-year-old dinosaur species in September 2020. 

Changmiania liaoningensis, the burrowing dinosaurs, are thought to have been trapped by a volcanic explosion while relaxing at the base of their burrows.