#moropus

[boobookittenartblog]

Moropus distans, a species of chalicothere from Miocene North America.

It was about 3 m. long and stood 2.4 m. tall at the shoulder. They are related to modern day horses, rhinos and tapirs.

illustration by Nobumichi Tamura

[typhlonectes]

Moropus (meaning "slow foot")

Moropus is an extinct genus of large perissodactyl ("odd-toed" ungulate) mammal in the chalicothere family. They were endemic to North America during the Miocene from ~20.4–13.6 Mya, existing for approximately 6.8 million years.  Moropus belonged to the schizotheriine subfamily of chalicotheres, and has the best fossil record of any member of this group; numbers of individuals, including complete skeletons, have been found. The closest extant relatives of Moropus are other perissodactyls:  horses, rhinos, and tapirs...

Read more: Moropus - Wikipedia

[dinofigureoftheday]

@horsefigureoftheday does this count as a horse (CollectA Moropus)

[chimeride]

[therobotmonster]

Did I hallucinate this ice-age mammal?

Okay, this is driving me bonkers.

I have a strong memory of a critter from one of my childhood paleontology books of a large, pleistocene mammal that was a large herbivore with long, clawed forelimbs and a single, large horn on the head.

It was basically a moropus with a horn, and I remember the particular paleoart rendering it in yellow-brown (not relevant to the paleontology, but it might identify whatever critter I'm thinking of if someone remembers something similar from a paleontology for kids book from the 80s)

A moropus is this:

What I remember is this:

Now, there's several possiblities:

I am misremembering, and have combined elements of moropus and a wooly rhinoceros.

The animal in question was thought by some to have a horn in the 70s/80s, and that was either a fringe theory or one that has been superseded since.

The Paleoartist was having fun.

It was an exaggerated tylocephalonyx

I do not believe I'm thinking of something like synthetoceras, because it was a heavily built creature rather than a deer-like one.

Any ideas?

[antiqueanimals]

Moropus and Entelodont. Animal Ghosts. Edited by Claudia Clow. Illustrated by Walt Disney Productions. 1971.

Internet Archive

[markhors-menagerie]

†Moropus elatus

Art credit: WillemSvdMerwe

Moropus was related to animals like Chalicotherium, and like them it fed by sitting back and using clawed hands to bring branches down to its mouth. But it had shorter forearms than its relatives, and was better at walking and running in open environments. It lived in North America from 13-20 million years ago, in forests and savannas. It was also much bigger than you’d think: it was 8 feet (2.4m) tall at the shoulder!

[makairodonx]

“In the course of twenty million years, mammals got more and more successful until they were the biggest, fiercest, and most spectacular animals on the planet. Whatever the climate, whatever the habitat, mammals made it their own. Their great strength was their ability to adapt. They grew to gigantic sizes, they evolved into powerful killers like the famous sabre-tooth cats, and they even laid claim to the oceans.”

- Kenneth Branagh, prologue to “Walking with Beasts”

Sketches of some of the incredible wildlife of the Cenozoic Era. None of the animals are exactly shown to scale. From left to right, bottom to top:

Arctocyon, Barylambda, Coryphodon, Titanoboa

Uintatherium, Notharctus, Mesonyx, Eobasileus

Leptictidium, Gastornis, Propaleotherium, Titanomyra, Godinotia, Pakicetus, Ambulocetus

Apidium, Arsinotitherium, Andrewsarchus, Embolotherium, Moeritherium, Dorudon, Basilosaurus, Perucetus

Megacerops, Cainotherium, Merycoidodon

Cynodictis, Paraceratherium, Hyaenodon gigas, Chalicotherium, Paraentelodon

Gentilicamelus, Amphicyon, Daeodon, Moropus, Dinocrocuta, Platybelodon, Gomphotherium, Pelagornis, Purussasaurus, Odobenoceratops, Otodus megalodon

Phoruschracos, Astrapotherium, Teleoceras, Synthetoceras, Samotherium, Livyatan

Australopithecus afarensis, Deinotherium, Ancylotherium, Dinofelis

Mammuthus columbi, Smilodon fatalis, Bison latifrons, Aenocyon dirus, Arctodus simus, Panthera atrox, Titanotylopus, Equus hersternus, Sivatherium, Gigantopithecus, Paleoloxodon

Smilodon populator, Macrauchenia, Doedicurus, Megatherium, Glyptodon, Toxodon

Mammuthus primigenius, Megaloceros giganteus, Coelodonta antiquitatis, Bos primigenius, Homo neanderthalensis, Elasmotherium, Bison bonasus

[mc-speculation]

New ravager design just dropped

This time inspired more by extinct megafauna! Notably moropus (not any specific species) and the woolly rhinoceros. The markings are inspired by cave paintings, which often depict creatures with really stark markings. Whether or not this was an artistic choice, an effect of the medium, or actually accurate is probably questionable; but I like it so I did it regardless.

The lore of the previous design is basically the same, they’re just fluffy now :]

Bonus naked version:

[bonesthedestroyeroflegos]

Artober Day 6. A skull from Moropus elatus, a type of Chalicothere.

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

In case you haven't seen it yet, FORGOTTEN BLOODLINES has a Kickstarter now! I seriously recommend backing it!

Agate needs all the support it can get! It is the chance to show the world what a paleo documentary entirely produced by paleo people can look like!

We love to complain all the time about the state of paleo-media, this could help with changing it for the better!

(also it's voiced by NIGEL MARVEN)

Here the Kickstarter and trailer for the project!

Also: the coming Saturday we will have a special FB stream on Twitch, talking about the project and producing little sketches for people who backed the project ;)

[chimeride]

Moropus with four arms please.

[tanglestock]

New animals!

All are captioned for your convenience!

Andrew is quite bigger than lil’ Hyaenodon.

I’ll try and get some better pictures of all my megafauna figures together. Now there’s quite a few!

[antiqueanimals]

Giants from the Past: the Age of Mammals. 1983.

[elfraven]

This incredible project is in dire need of support it's made by some amazing folks and represents a sorely represented period in paleomedia

Forgotten Bloodlines: Agate, via @Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maxbellomio/forgotten-bloodlines-agate?ref=android_project_share

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maxbellomio/forgotten-bloodlines-agate?ref=android_project_share

[regaliceratops]

Moropus elatus was a schizotheriine chalicothere from the Miocene of North America. Chalicotheres are an extinct group of perissodactyls, or even-toed ungulates, related to horses, rhinoceros, and tapirs. Moropus’ subfamily, the schizotheriines, differed from their cousins the chalicotheriines by maintaining a heavily quadrupedal stance similar to other perissodactyls, while derived chalicotheriines developed a knuckle-walking stance to protect the long claws of their dextrous forelimbs, similar to gorillas and ground sloths.