One of the earliest scientific descriptions of an ancient rhinoceros species was made in 1769, when the naturalist Peter Simon Pallas wrote a report on his expeditions to Siberia where he found a skull and two horns in the permafrost. Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert maintained the belief that the horns were the claws of giant birds, and classified the animal under the name Gryphus antiquitatis, meaning " griffin of anquity". In 1590, it was used as the basis for the head on a statue of a lindworm. A rhinoceros skull was found in Klagenfurt, Austria, in 1335, and was believed to be that of a dragon. Native peoples of Siberia believed their horns were the claws of giant birds. Woolly rhinoceros remains have been known long before the species was described, and were the basis for some mythical creatures. Molar tooth showing the cavity the genus was named for
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