UTP Geological Rock Garden (GRG)

Age: Early Pliocene – Late Holocene (5 – 0.0037 Ma)
Family: Elephantidae
Weight: 12 metric tons
Size: 4m long
Diet: Cactus Leaves, Trees and Shrubs.

• Woolly mammoths are a majestic prehistoric animal that once roamed the cold tundra of Europe, Asia, and North America from about 300,000 years ago up until about 10,000 years ago. Most mammoths were about as large as modern elephants.
• Many mammoths had a woolly, yellowish brown undercoat about 2.5cm thick beneath a coarser outer covering of dark brown hair up to 50cm long.
• The ear of a Wooly Mammoth is  small but suitable for an animal living in a cold climate, as the smaller amount of exposed surface area diminished heat losses.
• These animals grazed on plants, using their 15-foot-long tusks to dig under snow for food like shrubs and grasses. Climate change that caused vegetation scarcity led to its extinction.

Woolly Mammoth Migration

Age: Early Pliocene – Early Holocene (5.33 – 0.012 Ma)
Family: Megatheriidae
Weight: 4 metric tons
Size: 2.1m tall, 6m long
Diet: Herbivore

• Megatherium or giant sloth is an extinct genus of ground sloths endemic to South America that lived from the Early Pliocene to the end of the Pleistocene.  
• Megatherium had a robust skeleton with a large pelvic girdle and a broad muscular tail. Its large size enabled it to feed at heights unreachable by other contemporary herbivores. Rising on its powerful hind legs and using its tail to form a tripod, Megatherium could support its massive body weight while using the curved claws on its long forelegs to pull down branches with the preferable leaves.
• Megatherium had a narrow, cone-shaped mouth and prehensile lips that were probably used to select particular plants and fruits.

Age: Miocene (23 – 5.3 Ma)
Family: Amebelodontidae
Weight: 2 – 3 metric tons
Size: 3 m long
Diet: Aquatic Vegetation, Tree Bark and Plants

• While its name may remind you of a platypus, it is closely related to the elephant. Platybelodons were a bit smaller in size than most modern elephants.
• The scientific name of the only species in the Platybelodon genus is Platybelodon danovi. It means “flat-spear tusk” and refers to both the shape and function of their trunk and tusks. The tusks are actually teeth and the teeth of the Platybelodon were serrated to help cut tough vegetation.
• Scientists believe that the cause of Platybelodon extinction was most probably competition over resources like food, which made it hard for them to survive to the present day.

Age: Pleistocene – Recent (2.58 Ma – Recent)
Family: Bovidae
Weight: 26 – 69 kg
Size: 61 – 81 cm height, 100 – 140 cm long
Diet: Herbivore

• Primitive antelope, a medium-sized hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae that lives in herds in treeless steppe country. The most outstanding feature of the primitive antelope is its swollen snout with downward-directed nostrils. The snout serves to warm and moisten inhaled air.
• The adult primitive antelope stands about 76 cm at the shoulder and weighs 31 – 43 kg. Females are roughly three-quarters the size of males.

Age: Early Pleistocene – Early Holocene (2.5 – 0.01 Ma)
Family: Felidae
Weight: 400 kg
Size: 3 m long
Diet: Carnivore

• Smilodon is referred to by most people as the sabre-toothed cat, but this prehistoric mammal was not a true tiger at all. It belonged to an ancient, long-extinct line of cat-like creatures known as “machairodonts”.
• Smilodon was a large, muscular predator that may well have snacked on early humans as well as the Woolly mammoths and giant sloths of the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. Smilodon's would leap on its prey from the high branches of trees, digging its huge incisors into the unfortunate animal’s neck and then withdrawing to a safe distance while its dinner bled to death.

Smilodon Hunting

Age: Upper Triassic – Recent (230 Ma – Recent)
Family: Testudinidae
Weight: 140 g – 900 kg
Size: <10 cm – 1.5 m long
Diet: Omnivore

• Turtles are divided into two major groups, the  side necked turtle and hidden necked turtles, which differ in the way their heads retracted. There are 360 living and recently extinct species of turtles, including land-dwelling tortoises and freshwater terrapins.
• Turtles do not lay eggs underwater although many species live in or around water. Turtle shells are made mostly of bone; the upper part is the domed carapace, while the underside is the flatter plastron or belly-plate. Its outer surface is covered in scales made of keratin.
• Turtles are generally opportunistic omnivores and mainly feed on plants and animals with limited movement.