Samotherium

Samotherium ("beast of Samos") is an extinct genus of Giraffidae from the Miocene and Pliocene of Eurasia and Africa.^[1] Samotherium had two ossicones on its head, and long legs. The ossicones usually pointed upward, and were curved backwards, with males having larger, more curved ossicones, though in the Chinese species, S. sinense, the straight ossicones point laterally, not upwards. The genus is closely related to Shansitherium. Fossil evidence suggests that Samotherium had a rounded muzzle, which would suggest a grazing lifestyle and a habitat composed of grassland. One common predator of this animal was the Amphimachairodus.^[2]

Samotherium Temporal range: Miocene to Pliocene, 11.608–2.588 Ma[1] PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Samotherium skull
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Giraffidae
Genus:	†Samotherium Forsyth Major, 1888
Species
S. africanum Churcher, 1970 S. boissieri Forsyth-Major, 1889 (type) S. major Bohlin, 1926 S. neumayri Rodler and Weithofer, 1890 S. sinense Bohlin, 1926

Biologist Richard Ellis has proposed that the skull of Samotherium is portrayed on an ancient Greek vase as a monster that Heracles is fighting.^[3] However, other authors have argued that it is more likely to be the skull of a monitor lizard instead.^[4]

Description

Samotherium major (middle) in comparison with the okapi (below) and giraffe. The anatomy of Samotherium appears to have shown a transition to a giraffe-like neck.

S. major and S. boissieri

A 2015 study found that Samotherium had a neck intermediate in length between the giraffe and the okapi, judging from examination of specimens of S. major from Greece.^[5]