Paraceratherium giganteum

Paraceratherium Giganteum is an extinct species of Indricothere. It lived in the semi-arid canyons and river valleys of present-day Northern China during the Miocene. Out of all the Indricotheres, P. Giganteum was greatly larger than the other Indricotheres and measured up to 9 metres in height for some males and could weigh up to 15 tons.

History of discovery
P. giganteum was dicovered and named by amateur paleontologist George F. Arnold in 2003. It was unearthed in the Qingzhou river valley,in north-eastern China. The discovered fossilized parts were brought to New York American Museum of Natural History to examine and then back to China to the museum of Beijing.

Disputes over species taxonomy
Several months after George F. Arnold discovered a fossilized jaw, parts of the femur, and a well preserved foot, paleontologists started speculating if P. Giganteum was a separate species from P. Zhajremensis. They disputed wether the fossilized parts of P. giganteum were actually just parts of a male P. Zhajremensis. Sexual dimorphism is known in many mammals and Indricotheres are not an exception. Paleontologists are waiting to find more fossils to determine if P. giganteum is a different species. If more fossils are found and it is clarified that P. giganteum is in fact a separate species, P. giganteum would then be the largest land mammal ever.

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