Sivatherium Skull Cast

myminifactory

Unpainted cast of the massive skull of an extinct giraffid, Sivatherium giganteum. This impressive cast is part of a set produced by the East India Company and acquired by museums during the mid to late 19th century. Sivatherium, meaning "Shiva's beast", was an extinct genus of giraffids that roamed extensively throughout Africa to the Indian Subcontinent. The species Sivatherium giganteum is, by weight, the largest known giraffid and possibly the largest ruminant of all time. The Afro-Asiatic species, S. maurusium, was once classified within the genus "Libytherium". S. giganteum remains were discovered in the Himalayan foothills, dating back around 1,000,000 years ago. S. maurusium may have gone extinct as recently as 8,000 years ago, as depictions that closely resemble it are known from ancient rock paintings in the Sahara and Central West India. Imaged using a Canon 5DSR to capture 88 images, which were then processed using Agisoft Photoscan at medium levels. ____________ This object was scanned by Fossils in Shropshire.