Ampelomeryx

An illustration of an extinct deer-like hoofed mammal. It has a strange bony head crest shaped like a tuning fork, with two more horn-like prongs above its eyes, and fang-like teeth protruding from its mouth.

Ampelomeryx ginsburgi, a palaeomerycid ungulate from the Early Miocene of France (~17 mya). About the size of a deer, around 1m tall at the shoulder (3′3″), it was a distant relative of modern giraffids.

Males sported three distinctive ossicone-like ‘horns’ – two over their eyes and a third forked one at the back of the skull – and protruding tusks like some modern deer, which probably served a similar purpose in fights against each other.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *