Species & Body Design
This means Chalicotherium walks on 4 legs
What is Quadruped
Chalicotherium walked on these, rather than hooves
What are knuckles?
Chalicotherium preferred this type of vegetation
What are soft, moist plants/vegeatation?
Chalicotherium's large body size and clawed forelimbs may have served as a deterrent to these animals
What are carnivorous predators/predators?
The longer of its two sets of limbs
What are forelimbs?
Chalicotherium was more closely related to this common barn animal than to any primate
What is a horse?
This means Chalicotherium only eats plants
What is Herbivore?
To actually reach its food, Chalicotherium likely utilized this stance, meaning it stood on its rear limbs.
What is Bipedal posture?
Eating only plants, they had to rely on these teeth for grinding
What are Molars
The Chalicotherium belongs to an extinct family of mammals called chalicotheres, known for these long features that replace hooves.
What are claws?
Rather than grazing, the Chalicotherium likely fed by this method of pulling tree branches downward with its long forelimbs to reach leaves.
What Browsing/Hook Feeding?
The continent Chalicotherium first appeared in
What is Asia?
Walking primarily on its knuckles and toes, this means they were..
What is digitigrade?
The Chalicotherium lived during this era, the same one that includes mammoths and saber-toothed cats.
What is the Cenozoic Era?
The habitat Chalicotherium is most commonly associated with
What are wooded habitats?
Despite being too slow to outrun most predators, the Chalicotherium managed to spread across these 3 continents during its existence.
What are Europe, Asia, and Africa?
The number of toes they had on each limb
What is 3
The Chalicotherium received this nickname derived from the worn, pebble-like appearance of its teeth.
What is the "Gravel Beast"?
The purpose their claws were likely used for
What is feeding/browsing?
Despite being a large, clawed, knuckle-walking megaherbivore with a range spanning three continents, Chalicotherium managed to stay completely unknown to science until this relatively recent century
What is the 19th Century?