What Ice Age rhinoceros with a thick coat of hair went extinct about 10,000 years ago?

The woolly rhinoceros was the Ice Age rhinoceros with a thick coat of hair that disappeared roughly 10,000 years ago. Its scientific name was Coelodonta antiquitatis, and it lived across the mammoth steppe of northern Eurasia, from Europe through Siberia and into Mongolia.

This rhino was built for cold, dry grasslands. Long hair, a dense undercoat, a shoulder hump, and a low head helped it survive harsh conditions while grazing on grasses and other steppe plants. Frozen mummified remains from Siberia have preserved its fur, skin, and even stomach contents, while cave paintings show that prehistoric people knew the animal well.

The exact extinction date is debated. The youngest reliable fossils are about 14,000 years old, but environmental DNA has suggested possible survival in Siberia until around 9,800 years ago. Warming climate changed open grasslands into shrub- and tree-dominated habitats, while human hunting may have added pressure. It was more closely related to the living Sumatran rhinoceros than to the Indian, Javan, or modern African rhinos.