What Sivatherium Actually Was
Sivatherium giganteum stood roughly two metres at the shoulder and is estimated to have weighed between 1,200 and 1,250 kilograms, making it the largest giraffid known to science. For scale, a modern giraffe averages around 800 kilograms. Sivatherium carried four ossicones on its skull: two large, palmate ones at the back and two shorter, conical ones above the eyes. Palmate ossicones are unique among giraffids; they resemble moose antlers more than anything on a living giraffe, and they almost certainly played a role in male combat. The animal was a browser, built to strip leaves from trees at heights no other herbivore of its time could reach in the same way. Its neck was shorter and more muscular than a modern giraffe's, suggesting it fed at mid-canopy rather than the very tops of acacia stands.
