Ancient Rhinoceros Species Unearthed in Morocco’s Ouarzazate Region

Named Eozara xerrii, this species was graciously offered to the Faculty of Science of Aïn Chock by Serge Xerri in Rabat. The latter had bought it from fossil hunters. Denis Geraads from the Center for Paleontology Research in Paris and Samir Zouhri from the Geology Department at the Faculty of Aïn Chock in Casablanca conducted a paleontological study, at the end of which they described the first defined representative of the Elasmotheriinae subfamily in North Africa, coming from the Late Miocene site of Skoura near Ouarzazate, on the southern slope of the High Atlas central in Morocco.

It is a "practically complete skull with an articulated mandible and some fragmentary postcranial remains, making it by far the best known Elasmotherium from the Late Miocene of Africa," explain the authors of the study. "The skull is characterized by long nasal bones indicating a strong horn and long edentulous premaxillaries, expanded anteriorly. Compared to other Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), the face is moderately elongated. The lower incisors are of medium size, and the premolar row is short. The upper molars have a strongly pinched protocone," they detail.