Volcanic ash buried huge herd of Nebraskan rhinos

Discover magazine highlighted research by the University of Cincinnati that found prehistoric rhinos lived in super-herds 12 million years ago.

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,” lead author and UC graduate Clark Ward said. “We didn’t find evidence for seasonal migration or any evidence of a response to the disaster.”

Read the Discover magazine story.

Featured image at top: Visitors listen to a docent at Nebraska's Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park. Photo/John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum