''Bramatherium'' (

Brahma Brahma ( sa, ब्रह्मा, Brahmā) is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu, and Shiva.Jan Gonda (1969)The Hindu Trinity Anthropos, Bd 63/64, H 1/2, pp. 21 ...

’s beast) is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of giraffids that ranged from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. It is closely related to the larger ''

Sivatherium ''Sivatherium'' ("Shiva's beast", from Shiva and ''therium'', Latinized form of Ancient Greek θηρίον -'' thēríon'') is an extinct genus of giraffids that ranged throughout Africa to the Indian subcontinent. The species ''Sivatherium giga ...

''.

Etymology

The first part of the generic name,

(

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

masculine ', nominative ' ), is in reference to the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

god In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

creation Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing * Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it * Creationism, the belief tha ...

. The second part, "therium", comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''θηρίον'' (transliterated ''therion''), meaning 'beast'.

Description

''Bramatherium'' was built very similarly to ''Sivatherium''. Alive, it would have resembled a heavily built

okapi The okapi (; ''Okapia johnstoni''), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe, or zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. It is the only species i ...

and had a crown-like set of four, radiating

ossicone Ossicones are columnar or conical skin-covered bone structures on the heads of giraffes, male okapi, and some of their extinct relatives. Ossicones are distinguished from the superficially similar structures of horns and antlers by their uniqu ...

s. Fossils, and examination of teeth in particular, suggested the living animals dwelled woodlands and wetlands.Khan, M. A., Akhtar, M., & Irum, A. (2014). Bramatherium (Artiodactyla, Ruminantia, Giraffidae) from the middle Siwaliks of Hasnot, Pakistan: biostratigraphy and palaeoecology. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 23(3), 308-320. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2021.1898976

References

* Falconer, H. (1845) “Description of some fossil remains of Deinotherium, Giraffe, and other mammalia, from Perim Island, Gulf of Cambay, Western Coast of India”, J. Geol. Soc., 1, 356–372. Pliocene extinctions Pliocene even-toed ungulates Prehistoric giraffes Prehistoric even-toed ungulate genera Miocene first appearances Miocene mammals of Asia Pliocene mammals of Asia Fossil taxa described in 1845 {{paleo-eventoedungulate-stub

Etymology

Description

See also

References