Chalicotheres

These bizarre mammals, were related to Horses, Rhinoceros and Tapirs. They were ancient, having evolved in the Eocene Period, some 45 million years ago, the Chalicotheres were first distinguished by their peculiar method of motion, in which they ‘knuckle-walked’. Successful for a long time, the Chalicotheres eventually branched into another variety, towards the end of the Oligocene Epoch. These were the very similar, but subtly different, hoofed Chalicotheres, that walked on their toes, more like a goat. Sadly, for the Chalicotheres, the world began to change too much for them to cope with, and they began a slow decline, being replaced on most continents by the newer forms of grazing herbivores, such as the Antelope and Bovine animals. The last of the ‘knuckle-walkers’, died out million of years before now; though the hoofed form managed to continue into the Late Pliocene, with increasingly rarer species such as the one on the background, called, Ancylotherium. Finally, these last Chalicotheres died out around 1.2 million – 950,000 years ago. Thus ended a 44 million year family history.