The Sumatran rhinoceros is actually the closest living relative to one of the world’s most well-known of the Ice Age megafauna, the woolly rhinoceros (last image). This horned giant ranged all across Eurasia, from Korea all the way to Spain, and survived the last Ice Age before dying out 10 000 years later. Originally this close relationship was only theorised due to the two animals’ similar woolly coats, but recent DNA analyses have proven that the two are sister species. Some theories maintain that, in addition to global climate change, the woolly rhino was driven to extinction by over-hunting by humans, ironically the same thing that threatens the Sumatran rhino today.
