Paleontology in a Galaxy Far, Far Away....
I'm a huge Star Wars nerd. I'm going to say that right now and get it out of the way. I'll undoubtedly be subscribing to the Disney+ streaming service just to watch the new Star Wars live-action TV show, The Mandalorian , which just dropped a new trailer . In the trailer there is are a couple of shots of a new creature on an unspecified world from a galaxy far, far away: I will love him and squeeze him and call him George (© Lucasfilm/Disney) As soon as I saw this angry, furry unicorn pop up on the screen, I got a sudden, strong feeling as if I've seen this creature before. Then, the name Elasmotherium formed in my head. Elasmotherium is an extinct genus and cousin to the modern rhinoceroses that lived during the Pleistocene epoch (appx. 2.6 million years ago to appx. 39,000 years ago). One particular species, Elasmotherium sibericum , is now thought to have been one of the last of the genus that lived until about 39,000 years ago in Eurasia, when mode...