Eobasileus
Encyclopedia
Eobasileus cornutus is an extinct species of dinocerate
Dinocerata
Dinocerata mammals are an extinct order of plant-eating, rhinoceros-like hoofed creatures famous for their paired horns and tusk-like canine teeth...

 mammal.

Eobasileus was 4 metres (13.1 ft) long and stood 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) tall at the shoulder. It looked very similar to the related Uintatherium
Uintatherium
Uintatherium, is an extinct genus of herbivorous mammal that lived during the Eocene epoch, which includes a single species currently recognized, U. anceps. They were similar to today's rhinoceros both in size and in shape, although they are not closely related...

. Like Uintatherium, it had three pairs of blunt horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...

s on its skull, possibly covered with skin like the ossicone
Ossicone
Ossicones are horn-like protuberances on the heads of giraffes, male okapis, and their extinct relatives, such as Sivatherium, and the climacoceratids, such as Climacoceras. Only giraffids have true ossicones...

s of a giraffe
Giraffe
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...

. The frontal pair may have been composed of keratin
Keratin
Keratin refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins. Keratin is the key of structural material making up the outer layer of human skin. It is also the key structural component of hair and nails...

, like the horn(s) of a rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....

. Eobasileus also had a pair of tusks which were shielded by bony protrusions of the lower jaw.
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