OBJECT DOSSIER · SMITHSONIAN OPEN ACCESS

Chalicothere mammal — Moropus elatus

SAGE Museum Deep Time scientific dossier

Artist / Creator

Claire H. from New York City, USA

Date / Period

Oligocene — early Arikareean · Oligocene in the Smithsonian catalog.

Object Type

complete mounted skeleton

Medium

unknown_needs_review

About This Object

Geologic period: Oligocene — early Arikareean

Age: Oligocene in the Smithsonian catalog.

Feeding: Herbivorous browser.

Evidence: The skeleton and claws are direct evidence. Feeding posture and browsing behavior are reconstructed from anatomy.

Why it matters: Moropus demonstrates that the horse-rhino-tapir branch of mammals once experimented with body plans very unlike any living perissodactyl.

Plain Language Identity: An extinct chalicothere perissodactyl with large claws rather than the hoof-like feet expected in most of its relatives.

What You Are Looking At: A mounted Moropus skeleton showing its long limbs and large claw-bearing feet.

Ecosystem: Oligocene terrestrial ecosystem of the central United States.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/nmnhpaleobiology_3342411

Formation: Harrison Formation, Arikaree Group

Find Location: Nebraska, United States

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; chronology and taxonomy conflicts retained rather than silently corrected; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Moropus elatus

Evidence / representation: comparative_taxon_visual

Why It Is In This SAGE Exhibit

comparative_taxon_visual

After the Dinosaurs: Mammals, Ice Ages and the World We Inherited.

Provenance

Smithsonian Deep Time source scene: The Not-So-Distant Past

Visual source institution: Wikimedia Commons

Exhibition History

Included in the SAGE Museum Dinosaurs & Deep Time staging exhibit.

Collection & Credit

Media license: CC BY-SA 2.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0

Subjects & Themes

Moropus elatus Oligocene — early Arikareean complete mounted skeleton The Not-So-Distant Past After the Dinosaurs

ORIGINAL COLLECTION SOURCE

This object page stays inside SAGE Museum. The Smithsonian link below is provided only as the original scholarly collection record. It opens separately.

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