The morphology and paleobiological significance of the horns ofCoelodonta antiquitatis(Mammalia: Rhinocerotidae)

All known nasal horns of the Pleistocene Palearctic woolly rhinoceros, Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumb.), are laterally flattened and transversely banded. A nasal horn discovered in the Museum of Paleontology, University of Helsinki, Finland, is described and figured. The old literature on woolly rhino horns is reviewed and the relevant plates from Brandt (1849) are reproduced. The differences between nasal and frontal horns are discussed and the shape of the nasal horn is interpreted as primary. The old contention that the woolly rhino used its nasal horn to shovel snow is supported, and the dynamics and significance of this behaviour are discussed. The transverse bands are interpreted as annuli and suggest a stronger sexual dimorphism in horn size in Coelodonta antiquitatis than in living rhinos. Such dimorphism in a probably migratory rhinoceros of a strongly seasonal environment would be in accordance with the general relationships proposed by Geist (1974) and Jarman (1974).