A skeleton of an injured Coelodonta antiquitatis from the late pleistocene of north-western Germany

Remains of an articulated skeleton of Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach 1807) from Late Pleis to cene river gravel deposits of the Weser near Petershagen (northwest Germany) are described. A partly healed costal frac ture at the middle of the right flank of the skel eton seems to be the result of intra-species fights. Other bones from the woolly rhinoceros site belong to M. primigenius, B. priscus, M. giganteus, E. ferus przewalskii, and R. tarandus, indi cating the pres ence of a typical Late Pleis to cene mammoth steppe fauna. Inter esting are the remains of the steppe lion P. leo spelaea and an indi rect proof of the ice age spotted hyena C. crocuta spelaea given by chewing marks. The described artic u lated woolly rhinoc eros skel eton, in comparison with isolated cave and freeland bones of the woolly rhinoc eros give new infor ma tion about the paleobiology, biogeography and taphonomy of these huge ice age animals in north-western Germany. Artic u lated skel e tons of the woolly rhinoc eros are extremely rare in the world, mainly as the result of carcass and bone destruc tion by the ice age spotted hyenas.