Postschizotherium intermedium was a large hyrax that lived during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, about 2.5-2.2 million years ago, in what is now northern China.
About 1.5m long (~5′), it had very high-set and sideways projecting eye sockets similar to those of modern hippos, indicating it probably had a similar sort of semi-aquatic lifestyle. The shape of its skull also suggests it may have had a short tapir-like trunk.
Much like modern hippos or capybaras Postschizotherium probably spent much of its time wallowing in bodies of water, and emerging onto land to graze on grasses. Its habitat would have been humid forest and grasslands, alongside other animals such as large horses and bovines, one of the last chalicotheres, woolly rhinos, beavers, macaques, bears, big cats, early lynxes, and scimitar-toothed cats.
References:
- Wikipedia contributors. “Postschizotherium” Wikipedia, 08 Nov. 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postschizotherium
- Xing, Lu-Da, et al. “The first cranium of Postschizotherium (Pliohyracidae, Hyracoidea) from the Lower Pleistocene of China.” Palaeoworld (2025): 200998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2025.200998
- Zan, Jinbo, et al. “Palaeoenvironmental and chronological constraints on the Early Pleistocene mammal fauna from loess deposits in the Linxia Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau.” Quaternary Science Reviews 148 (2016): 234-242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.07.026