Rosa Rubicondior: Refuting Creationism - How Large Herds Of Rhino Roamed North America

Refuting Creationism

How Large Herds Of Rhino Roamed North America
12 Million Years Before 'Creation Week'.

UC researchers discovered that prehistoric rhinos like these that shared a waterhole 12 million years ago lived in enormous herds.

Photo/John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum

Ash from the eruption of a volcano in Yellowstone preserved more than 100 specimens of a prehistoric rhino at Nebraska's Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park.

Photo/John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum

UC study finds evidence that prehistoric rhinos lived in huge herds | University of Cincinnati

Recent research has presented yet another problem for young-Earth creationism, which asserts that the Earth is only a few thousand years old, and that all existing species were created simultaneously without ancestors.

A study conducted by paleontologists from the University of Cincinnati provides compelling evidence that large herds of the extinct rhinoceros species, Teleoceras major, inhabited North America approximately 12 million years before creationism's mythical 'Creation Week'.

This conclusion is derived from isotopic analyses performed on fossils of these rhinos, which were preserved in volcanic ash at the Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska. The fossils represent individuals that perished together at a waterhole, suggesting herd behavior. The study, titled "Enamel carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopes reveal limited mobility in an extinct rhinoceros at Ashfall Fossil Beds, Nebraska, USA," was published in the journal Scientific Reports on April 4, 2025.

The University of Cincinnati further elaborated on these findings in a news release by Michael Miller, highlighting the evidence that prehistoric rhinos lived in substantial herds.

What information do you have on the extinct North American rhino, Teleoceras major?

Teleoceras major was an extinct species of rhinoceros belonging to the genus Teleoceras, known primarily from North America. It lived during the Miocene epoch, approximately 16 to 5 million years ago, flourishing particularly during the middle to late Miocene.

General Description

Appearance and build: Unlike the modern rhinoceroses, Teleoceras major had a stockier, barrel-shaped body, with shorter legs. It resembled a hippopotamus in build, adapted for a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
Size: It was relatively large-bodied, approximately 3–4 metres long, standing around 1.5 metres at the shoulder, and weighing up to 1.5–2 tonnes.
Horn: Typically had a single prominent nasal horn, though not as elongated as some modern African rhinos. The horn was composed of keratin and is rarely preserved in fossil records.

Habitat and Ecology

Environment: Primarily inhabited open grasslands and savannah-like regions, often near water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and marshes.
Diet: Herbivorous, feeding mainly on grasses, sedges, and other low-growing vegetation, indicative of a grazing lifestyle. Tooth morphology supports adaptation for grazing rather than browsing.

Behaviour and Lifestyle

Social Structure: Fossil evidence suggests Teleoceras major may have had social behaviour similar to modern hippos, forming small herds or groups, especially around water sources.
Semi-aquatic: Adaptations in limb morphology indicate it spent considerable time in shallow waters or marshy environments, similar to hippos today.

Fossil Record and Distribution

Geographic range: Widely distributed across North America, with fossil specimens recovered from multiple localities, especially abundant in regions of Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas.
Notable fossil sites: Famous deposits such as the Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska have yielded exceptionally well-preserved skeletons, offering insights into herd structure and mortality events. At Ashfall, whole populations were preserved in volcanic ash, providing detailed snapshots of their ecology and social behaviour.

Extinction

Time period: Became extinct near the end of the Miocene, approximately 5 million years ago, coinciding with significant climatic and environmental shifts, including increasing aridity, grassland expansion, and loss of wetlands.
Causes: Environmental changes likely reduced suitable habitats, ultimately contributing to its extinction as habitats shifted from semi-aquatic marshlands to drier grasslands less favourable to its ecology.

Significance in Palaeontology

Ecological Indicator: Teleoceras major serves as an important paleoenvironmental indicator, useful for reconstructing Miocene ecosystems, climates, and habitats.
Evolutionary Insights: Provides evidence about convergent evolution with hippos, showcasing how similar environmental pressures led to analogous morphologies and lifestyles despite being unrelated taxa.

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Prehistoric rhinos lived in mega-herds
Volcanic eruption 12 million years ago captures lives of extinct animals.

Rhinos that flourished across much of North America 12 million years ago gathered in huge herds, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati.
Researchers studied the isotopes of rhino teeth found in what is now northeast Nebraska. Here, more than 100 rhinos at a single water hole died and were entombed in ash from an eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Since the discovery of rhinos at Nebraska’s Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park in 1971, researchers have wondered what drew so many animals together in the same place. Did they converge from far away, perhaps to seek shelter from the unfolding natural disaster of the volcanic eruption with its choking ash?

We found they didn’t move very much. We didn’t find evidence for seasonal migration or any evidence of a response to the disaster.

Clark T. Ward, lead author
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Ward, who is now pursuing a doctorate at the University of Minnesota, used isotopic analysis of Miocene rhinos as part of a master's research project under the guidance of advisers and study co-authors Brooke Crowley at UC and University of Nebraska Professor Ross Secord.

Researchers examined ratios of isotopes of strontium, oxygen and carbon in fossil teeth to track the movements of the long-extinct animals across landscapes. Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons.

Grass or leaves that rhinos and other animals eat contain similar ratios of isotopes as the soil and bedrock where plants grow that allow researchers to determine where the animals fed, sometimes with surprising precision depending on how variable the vegetation and geology are.

Scientists use this technique in wildlife conservation. For example, they can track the migrations of wide-ranging animals such as caribou or identify the habitat needs of elusive animals like jaguars.

By studying carbon in the animal, we can reconstruct carbon in the environment to understand what kinds of vegetation lived there.

Clark T. Ward.

Meanwhile, oxygen tells scientists about climate, particularly rainfall.

We can use it to reconstruct how wet or dry the environment was, and strontium tells us where the animal was foraging because the ratio of isotopes is related to the soil and supporting bedrock.

Clark T. Ward.

Teleoceras major was a one-horned rhino with a barrel-shaped body and stubby legs like a hippo. Like hippos, they fed on grass. And like hippos, researchers think these rhinos spent a lot of time in and around water. Because of their vast size, they had few predators in the Miocene epoch, Ward said.

But their calves would have been vulnerable to hyena-like predators called bone-crushing dogs. Indeed, some of the specimens found at the Nebraska site bear evidence that scavengers removed portions of their carcasses after they died. And ancient tracks from the 100-pound dogs have been found there.

A researcher works on fossils at Nebraska’s Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park.

Photo/John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum.

Ward grew up near Ashfall Fossil Beds and spent a lot of time thinking about the calamity that befell the animals there.

Yellowstone’s enormous volcano has erupted many times over the past 12 million years. Ash from the eruption easily would have traveled 700 miles across what is now Nebraska where it piled up like snow nearly a foot deep in places. But windblown ash continued to fall on Nebraska long after the initial eruption, Ward said.

That ash would have covered everything: the grass, leaves and water. The rhinos likely weren’t killed immediately like the people of Pompeii. Instead, it was much slower. They were breathing in the ash. And they likely starved to death.

Clark T. Ward.

Rhino expert John Payne spent his career working with endangered Sumatran rhinos in Malaysia. Payne, who was not part of the study, said UC’s research addresses scientific debate about the social structure of this ancient species of rhino.

I am not surprised that the analyses very strongly suggest that Teleoceras major lived in herds given that this animal resembles modern hippopotamus in form and hippos live in herds of several tens of animals — with several herds in one geographical area. One can readily imagine several herds of many tens of individuals in each herd living in adjacent grasslands.

Clark T. Ward.

Ward worked as an intern at the place he loved as a child, Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park, answering visitors’ questions about the fossils and participating in fossil excavations and preparation at the site.

I’m honored and privileged to have my name in science attached to the site. As someone who used to go to Ashfall as a kid, it’s come full circle.

Clark T. Ward.

Abstract
Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska, USA, was a mid-Miocene (11.86 ± 0.13 Ma) watering-hole that preserved hundreds of herbivores in volcanic ash. The short-legged, barrel-bodied rhinoceros, Teleoceras major (Mammalia; Rhinocerotidae), is abundant at Ashfall (> 100 individuals), leading some researchers to suggest individuals formed large groups, while others have argued they congregated at Ashfall seeking refuge from the ash that ultimately caused their death. Here, we evaluated three types of mobility—natal dispersal of subadults, seasonal migration, and response to natural disaster—using carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotope ratios in tooth enamel from thirteen T. major adult individuals. We bulk and serially sampled enamel from mandibular second and third molars, which should respectively record behaviour after weaning but before and after possible natal dispersal. Results indicate that all sampled individuals had limited mobility and were local to Ashfall. Semi-aquatic adaptations likely restricted T. major to wet habitats and prohibited long-distance movement. Social (rather than spatial) dispersal, seasonal dietary flexibility, and elevated Miocene primary productivity could have allowed individuals to maintain genetic diversity and avoid depleting local resources. Reconstructing how extinct ungulates utilized ancient landscapes provides important context for understanding their paleoecology and sociality as well as the environments they inhabited.

Introduction
Large terrestrial herbivores (particularly hooved ungulates) have considerable impacts on the ecosystems they inhabit. Ungulate herbivory and nutrient cycling greatly influence vegetation structure and, in turn, modulate plant and small animal diversity as well as fire regimes^1,2,3. Savanna ecosystems—grassy biomes with scattered open canopy forests—are particularly strongly affected by herbivory^1,2,3. Consequently, tracking herbivore mobility and landscape use can provide key insights into savanna ecosystem processes^1,2,3. It is unknown if landscape use and mobility patterns observed in modern savannas apply to ancient environments, such as the highly diverse savanna-woodlands of mid-Miocene (ca. 16–11.5 Ma) central North America^4,5,6. Miocene and modern ungulate communities have similar ecomorphological composition^4,5,6, but a warm and equable climate may have influenced Miocene vegetation productivity and availability, which in turn could have impacted ungulate behaviour.

Here, we use carbon (δ¹³C), oxygen (δ¹⁸O), and strontium isotope ratios (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr) in bulk and serially sampled molar enamel to evaluate mobility in the extinct rhinoceros, Teleoceras major, from the mid-Miocene Ashfall Fossil Beds, Nebraska, USA (henceforth referred as “Ashfall”; Fig. 1). We consider three types of mobility: (1) dispersal from a natal area as a subadult to avoid intraspecific competition and minimize inbreeding upon sexual maturity; (2) seasonal migration following availability of water and preferred foods; and (3) long-distance movement in response to a major environmental perturbation or catastrophe.

Fig. 1

Maps of (A) the central midwestern USA showing state boundaries, the extent of the Neogene Ogallala Group, and location of Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park (“Ashfall”; filled circle); and (B) regional bedrock geology in north-central Nebraska and south-central South Dakota. Figure made with QGIS 3.22.9 (https://www.qgis.org); bedrock map GIS files sourced from the United States Geological Survey National Geologic Map Database (public domain). Modified from Ward et al.29.
Overview of ungulate mobility
The degree of mobility undertaken by an herbivore species depends on its social structure, diet, and body size. Generally, “dispersal” refers to long-distance movements of subadults from their natal area to their first breeding area (called natal dispersal), but adults may also disperse between breeding cycles to avoid competition and inbreeding (breeding dispersal)⁷. Among monogamous ungulate species, offspring of both sexes disperse to reduce competition for resources and mates^7,8. However, in many modern large ungulate species, only a small proportion of males successfully mate with the majority of females (polygyny). This leads to competition between males for mating rights, which in turn leads to selection for sexual dimorphism by exaggerated traits used in display or combat^7,8,9. Polygyny also leads to sex-biased dispersal; males are more frequently the dispersing sex, while female offspring often remain near their natal range (philopatry)^7,8,9. In contrast, in polygynous species where males defend territories or resources (resource defence polygyny), it is common for both male and female subadults to disperse and establish home ranges elsewhere⁹. Female-biased dispersal may evolve, but it is relatively rare among mammals and has only been observed once in extant ungulates (feral horses; Equus caballus)⁹.

Seasonal migration is driven by the seasonal availability of a species’ preferred food and water, which in turn are driven by fluctuations in temperature and precipitation. At higher latitudes, seasonality is pronounced, and thus ungulates are more likely to move seasonally than those at lower latitudes^10,11. Ungulates cope with a seasonal dearth of food and water by spatially following the growth of preferred forage (resource tracking) or by staying in place and changing preferred forage type (diet switching)^10,11. Resource tracking, and therefore migration, is most often observed in grass-dependent herbivores (grazers), which follow seasonal “waves” of fresh grass growth^10,11,12. In contrast, browsers (leafy vegetation consumers) are typically non-migratory and are able to maintain their preferred diet^10,11. This is because deeply rooted woody shrubs and trees are more likely to access permanent water sources (i.e., groundwater) than grasses^13,14. Mixed-feeding herbivores tend to switch their diets seasonally, foraging on grasses during the growing season and more leafy dicot vegetation during other seasons^10,11. Finally, larger ungulates have larger body fat reserves, are capable of eating less nutritious foods, and are physically more capable of traversing longer distances than smaller species¹⁵. Thus, megaherbivores (≥ 1000 kg) are more likely to migrate longer distances than smaller ones^10,11,15. During the mid-Miocene, North America was at similar mid-latitudes to today, but the climate was relatively warm and equable. The mid-Miocene supported a greater diversity of ungulates than any modern savanna, potentially because of elevated primary productivity and reduced seasonality^16,17. Reduced seasonal shifts in vegetation availability may have allowed ancient herbivores to stay in place year-round^4,16. In support of this possibility, recent ancestral state reconstructions of extant ungulates suggest that seasonal migration may have originated during the mid-Miocene11.

Environmental perturbations like droughts, floods, or other natural disasters can greatly affect herbivore landscape use patterns. How ungulates respond to environmental perturbations is expected to vary depending on the type of disaster, diet, and body size^18,19. During droughts, grazers tend to move long distances in search of less affected habitats, while browsers that consume deep-rooted woody vegetation maintain their preferred diet and are less likely to move¹⁸. In contrast, during catastrophic floods, terrestrial herbivores must move away from inundated low-lying areas¹⁹. Depending on the vegetation present on higher and drier grounds, animals may be forced to shift their diet to include more or less woody vegetation or risk starvation¹⁹. In this study, we investigated the local effects of a supervolcano eruption that blanketed most of western North America with ca. 650 km3 of ejecta^20,21,22. It is unknown if the ash impacted all animals regardless of their adaptations or if certain traits influenced survivorship. For example, as noted above, megaherbivores may have been able to travel longer distances in search of refugia than smaller species^15,18,19.

Isotope background

Carbon isotope ratios in herbivore enamel reflect consumed vegetation. Typically, researchers use δ¹³C values to distinguish consumption of C₃ and C₄ foods^23,24. During the mid-Miocene, C₄ plants comprised ≤ 20% of total plant biomass and contributed negligibly to herbivore diet^16,25,26,27. Nevertheless, carbon isotope values can still help distinguish herbivores that foraged on C₃ plants in different environments²⁸. Ward et al.²⁹ previously found that all ungulates at Ashfall, including adult Teleoceras major, foraged on C₃ plants in relatively open habitats, but it is possible that some individuals foraged in different habitats earlier in life. Carbon isotope values may also be able to track seasonal variability in consumed foods, but the magnitude of this variability is expected to be small (ca. 1–2‰)²⁸, particularly during the mid-Miocene when seasonality was more moderate^16,17,30. We therefore expect δ¹³C to be of less utility than δ¹⁸O or ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr for identifying behavioural shifts or tracking landscape use in T. major at Ashfall, but we include it nevertheless to provide corroborative support for patterns observed in other isotopes.

Oxygen isotope values in large herbivores like rhinoceroses are primarily influenced by drinking water, and to a lesser extent thermoregulatory mechanisms and water in consumed vegetation^31,32. Evaporation (and evapotranspiration) preferentially remove H₂¹⁶O, such that δ¹⁸O values of drinking water and leaf water increase with higher temperature or lower relative humidity^33,34,35,36. Oxygen isotopes can thus illuminate niche partitioning among co-occurring animals (e.g., those that prefer wet versus dry habitats) as well as seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation (warm/dry vs. cool/wet seasons)^37,38,39,40. Additionally, semi-aquatic animals that spend a lot of time in the water, like the modern common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), have δ¹⁸O values that reflect δ¹⁸O trends in meteoric water and may be lower than co-occurring terrestrial ungulates^37,40,41.

Strontium isotope ratios in tooth enamel can track the geographic location(s) where an animal foraged during the time of tooth mineralization⁴². This is because ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in tooth enamel reflects consumed vegetation and drinking water42, and the primary source of Sr to plants and water is weathered sediments and bedrock. Biologically available ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr varies with both age and mineral composition of the parent rock⁴³. Additional sources of Sr to biological systems include atmospheric Sr (e.g., dust, aerosols, sea spray, etc.) and transported aqueous Sr in groundwater or rivers and streams^44,45,46,47. Strontium isotopes on their own can reveal spatial niche partitioning, as well as shifts in landscape use during life, and they are even more effective when paired with δ¹⁸O data^{29,48,49,50,51,52,53}.

Ward, C.T., Crowley, B.E. & Secord, R.
Enamel carbon, oxygen, and strontium isotopes reveal limited mobility in an extinct rhinoceros at Ashfall Fossil Beds, Nebraska, USA.
Sci Rep 15, 11651 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94263-z

Copyright: © 2025 The authors.
Published by Springer Nature Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

The real crime of creationist pseudoscience lies not only in the deliberate spread of misinformation for power or profit, but in the intellectual impoverishment it imposes on its followers. By rejecting evidence-based science, they are denied the opportunity to engage with the rich and astonishing history of our planet—the story of shifting continents, dramatic climate changes, and the extraordinary ways in which life has continually adapted and diversified.

Who, without the insights of palaeontology, would have imagined that vast herds of short-legged, barrel-bodied rhinoceroses once roamed the prehistoric plains of North America, gathering at ancient waterholes and perishing in a volcanic cataclysm? This is the kind of deep-time narrative that science reveals—one filled with wonder, complexity, and surprise.

In contrast, creationist ideology offers a simplistic view of history shaped by supernaturalism and denial. It reduces the grandeur of nature to a static tale of instant creation and denies the evidence that surrounds us. The real mystery is why anyone would choose to believe that ignorance offers more profound insight than genuine understanding, all for the spurious satisfaction of the smug delusion that ignorance and superstition provides a superior form of knowledge than careful study and critical evaluation of the evidence

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