przyroda: Hyrax

Evidence: 29 • authority: 72

Parapliohyrax is an extinct genus of large hyracoid, a group today represented only by the diminutive hyraxes, but with fossil species encompassing a much greater diversity in ecology and morphology. Parapliohyrax lived during the Miocene period, in various localities spanning the entirety of the African continent. Two species have been identified, based on cranial remains: Parapliohyrax mirabilis, the type species, known from the Miocene of Morocco and Tunisia, and P. ngororaensis, discovered in Kenyan and Namibian deposits. Isolated postcranial remains attributed to the genus have been identified in South African and Libyan deposits of the same age.

Evidence: 21 • authority: 72

The largest prehistoric animals include both vertebrate and invertebrate species. Many of them are described below, along with their typical range of size (for the general dates of extinction, see the link to each). Many species mentioned might not actually be the largest representative of their clade due to the incompleteness of the fossil record and many of the sizes given are merely estimates since no complete specimen have been found. Their body mass, especially, is largely conjecture because soft tissue was rarely fossilized. Generally, the size of extinct species was subject to energetic and biomechanical constraints.

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Perissodactyla (, from Ancient Greek περισσός, perissós 'odd' and δάκτυλος, dáktylos 'finger, toe'), or odd-toed ungulates, is an order of ungulates. The order includes about 17 living species divided into three families: Equidae (horses, asses, and zebras), Rhinocerotidae (rhinoceroses), and Tapiridae (tapirs). They typically have reduced the weight-bearing toes to three or one of the five original toes, though tapirs retain four toes on their front feet. The nonweight-bearing toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or positioned posteriorly. By contrast, artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates) bear most of their weight equally on four or two (an even number) of the five toes: their third a…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Hyracotherium ( HY-rək-o-THEER-ee-əm; "hyrax-like beast") is an extinct genus of small (about 60 cm in length) perissodactyl ungulates that was found in the Eocene-aged London Clay formation. This small, fox-sized animal was once considered to be the earliest known member of Equidae before the type species, H. leporinum, was reclassified as a palaeothere. The remaining species are now thought to belong to different genera, such as Eohippus, which had previously been synonymised with Hyracotherium.

Evidence: — • authority: 65