woolly rhinoceros, (genusCoelodonta), either of twoextinctspecies ofrhinoceros found infossil deposits of thePliocene andPleistocene epochs (5.3 million to 11,700 years ago) inEurope,North Africa, andAsia. It probably evolved from an earlier form,Dicerorhinus, somewhere in northeastern Asia, entered the European region, and becameextinct at the end of the most recentice age. Theanimal was massive, with two large horns toward the front of theskull, and was covered with a thick coat ofhair.

The woolly rhinoceros was also present in moretemperate, nonglacial regions, where it inhabitedgrasslands. It was a popular subject forStone Age painters and sculptors; theirrepresentations of the woolly rhinoceros, some of which are very accurate, are known from several localities—includingChauvet–Pont d’Arc in France, whose woolly rhinoceros illustrations date to between 33,000 and 30,000 years ago. Woolly rhinoceroses remained in northernEurasia until at least 18,500 years ago, and scientific evidence suggests that they were not hunted toextinction byhuman beings. Rather, they likely died out from suddenclimate changes brought on during theBølling-Allerød interstadial, an interval that saw the rapid retreat of the Pleistoceneice sheets beginning about 14,700 years ago.

Most knownspecimens are represented by frozen carcasses discovered inSiberia and other carcasses preserved inoil seeps in central Europe; they have been grouped intoCoelodonta antiquitatis. However, the oldest known specimen, which was found on thePlateau of Tibet in 2007 and dated to 3.6 million years ago, has been placed inC. thibetana.

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