ROAR! The little prehistoric Bambi is here! You saw the animal samurai known as the Wild turkey and love it? Good! Now time to meet the knight, Ramoceros! The fastest thing alive!
Ramoceros osborni(Osborn’s branched horns NOT Osborn’s ram horns; that etymology was WAY too funny sounding to be true) was an antilocaprid artiodactyl from the Miocene epoch. The family is entirely extinct with modern pronghorns being the only exception. Unlike the more or less human sized pronghorns, Ramoceros were small creatures about the size of coyotes, bobcats, or Velociraptor at about 1 meter long, .685 meters high, and 20 kilograms. Ramoceros were built for speed. Due to their small size and lightweight build, they could potentially have been even faster than modern pronghorns and even the fastest creatures to live. They would’ve needed such speed. Bear dogs, barbourofelids, entelodonts, and other prehistoric monsters were the predators in the open fields of Miocene North America. If cornered, Ramoceros could also defend itself with its deadly set of horns shaped like tree branches or deer antlers or kick with its hooves. It’s unclear if these pronghorns lived in herds or not but it’s certain the mother would raise her own fawns until they could run on their own. The sounds these antilocaprids made isn’t clear but one guess is the epic roar of a large deer. Or maybe they sounded like whistles. It’s unclear how these fascinating ungulates went extinct.
Ramoceros has some representation in educational books and has a cameo in the bear dog episode of Monsters Resurrected but has little to no pop cultural representation. That's a shame!
Ramoceros osborni(Osborn’s branched horns NOT Osborn’s ram horns; that etymology was WAY too funny sounding to be true) was an antilocaprid artiodactyl from the Miocene epoch. The family is entirely extinct with modern pronghorns being the only exception. Unlike the more or less human sized pronghorns, Ramoceros were small creatures about the size of coyotes, bobcats, or Velociraptor at about 1 meter long, .685 meters high, and 20 kilograms. Ramoceros were built for speed. Due to their small size and lightweight build, they could potentially have been even faster than modern pronghorns and even the fastest creatures to live. They would’ve needed such speed. Bear dogs, barbourofelids, entelodonts, and other prehistoric monsters were the predators in the open fields of Miocene North America. If cornered, Ramoceros could also defend itself with its deadly set of horns shaped like tree branches or deer antlers or kick with its hooves. It’s unclear if these pronghorns lived in herds or not but it’s certain the mother would raise her own fawns until they could run on their own. The sounds these antilocaprids made isn’t clear but one guess is the epic roar of a large deer. Or maybe they sounded like whistles. It’s unclear how these fascinating ungulates went extinct.
Ramoceros has some representation in educational books and has a cameo in the bear dog episode of Monsters Resurrected but has little to no pop cultural representation. That's a shame!
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