Descriptions

A molar from the upper jaw of a woolly rhino collected from Bench Cavern. The woolly rhinoceros could grow to over four metres (13 feet) long and two metres (6 feet) tall. This is larger than a modern white rhinoceros, the largest of the 5 surviving rhinoceros species. It had long thick hair and two horns, the front horn up to 1m (3 feet) long. It probably grazed on grasses, sedges (grass look-a-likes) and dwarf shrubs. In the UK it lived through the glacial periods of the ice ages until about 15,000 years ago, but survived until about 8,000 years ago in western Siberia. This specimen dates to the Wolstonian glacial period, the second to last major glaciation recorded in the Pleistocene epoch approximately 200,000-125.000 years ago.

This object is on display at RAMM in the Down to Earth gallery.