The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) from Ondorkhaan, eastern Mongolia

The Mammoth Faunas, the famous cold-adapted mammal assemblages, were distributed widely across northern Eurasia and North America during the Late Pleistocene. The now extinct woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis, was a major component. Abundant fossil remains of this species with radiocarbon dates have been reported through almost all of northern Eurasia, but the fossil rhinoceroses of Mongolia are poorly known. Here, we describe a rhinocerotid skeleton from Ondorkhaan, eastern Mongolia, and compare it with four Late Pleistocene rhinoceros species of northern Eurasia (Elasmotherium sibiricum, Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and C. antiquitatis), resulting in its identification as a woolly rhinoceros (C. antiquitatis). Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates obtained from two samples (ODK01 and ODK02) of the skeleton essentially agree, 42 160-40 040 cal. a BP and 42 105-39 955 cal. a BP, and the two samples had delta C-13 values of -19.5 parts per thousand and -20.2 parts per thousand SMMKW, respectively. This find suggests that the Mammoth Faunas were distributed in eastern Mongolia c. 45-40 ka during the period of climatic amelioration between Heinrich events 5 (H5: 46 000 cal. a BP) and 4 (H4: 39 000 cal. a BP).

Automated summary

This study describes a rhinocerotid skeleton from eastern Mongolia, which is identified as a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) through comparison with other Late Pleistocene rhinoceros species in northern Eurasia. Radiocarbon dating places the fossil in the period between Heinrich events 5 and 4, around 45,000 to 40,000 years ago.