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Pelorovis
EntityQ140183· pop 16· linked from 23 articles

Pelorovis is an extinct genus of African wild cattle which existed during the Pleistocene epoch. Originally believed to be a giant member of Caprinae, related to modern sheep, it is now known to be a relative of cattle and buffalos. The best known and type species is Pelorovis oldowayensis, from the Early Pleistocene of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, though two others, P. turkanensis and P. howelli, are currently recognised. A fourth, P. praeafricanus, may exist, or it may represent the same species as P. oldowayensis. "Pelorovis" antiquus, from the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, and "P." kaisensis, hav

Wikidata facts

Parent taxon
Bovini
Image
Pelorovis oldowayensis.jpg
Show 6 more facts
start time
2500000-00
end time
4000-00-00
taxon name
Pelorovis
taxon rank
genus
Commons category
Pelorovis
time period
Pleistocene
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~12 min read

Encyclopedic overview

11 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • Early history
  • Possible synonymy with ''Bos''
  • Reassigned species
  • Description
  • Skull and dentition
  • Postcrania
  • Palaeobiology
  • Possible predation by hominins
  • Evolution and distribution
  • References

Pelorovis is an extinct genus of African wild cattle which existed during the Pleistocene epoch. Originally believed to be a giant member of Caprinae, related to modern sheep, it is now known to be a relative of cattle and buffalos. The best known and type species is Pelorovis oldowayensis, from the Early Pleistocene of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, though two others, P. turkanensis and P. howelli, are currently recognised. A fourth, P. praeafricanus, may exist, or it may represent the same species as P. oldowayensis. "Pelorovis" antiquus, from the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, and "P." kaisensis, have since been moved into Syncerus, the same genus as living African buffalo.

In many respects, Pelorovis resembles the modern cattle genus, Bos, and has been compared morphologically to aurochsen (Bos primigenius). It has been suggested that they represent the same genus, in which case Pelorovis would be a junior synonym of Bos, though this has been challenged. Assuming they are distinct genera, Pelorovis may be distinguished by having an elongated face and very long, half-moon-shaped horns. It was fairly sexually dimorphic, with males having longer and slightly straighter horns, though horn length and size also differed between species. Pelorovis species grew larger as they evolved: P. howelli had a hornspan of , while adult males of P. oldowayensis had a larger hornspan of around .

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pelorovis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)