Ancylotherium was one of the last surviving chalicotheres and was not a knuckle-walker.

Meaning of scientific name
"hooked beast"

Pronunciation of scientific name
AN-sy-loh-THEER-ee-um

Statistics
2m high at the shoulder.

Physical description
One of the last surviving chalicotheres, Ancylotherium was a cousin of the bizarre knuckle-walking chalicotheres of the Oligocene. These animals were built rather like large goats.

Distribution
Sparse remains of Ancylotherium have been found at many of the most famous hominid fossil sites in East and South Africa, such as Laetoli, Olduvai and Omo.

Habitat
They inhabited the patchy savannah-land of Africa.

Diet
They were herbivorous and browsed vegetation.

Behaviour
Ancylotherium's build enabled it to reach up and browse the vegetation studding the plains of Africa.

Conservation status
Extinct.

Notes
Ancylotherium is very similar to the North American chalicothere Moropus, which is better known.

History
They lived 6.5-2 million years ago. The chalicotheres were cousins to the horses and tapirs, and evolved in the mid Eocene from small, forest-living animals rather like the early horses. In the early Oligocene the family split into two groups: one were rather like goats and the other had developed long claws and had to walk on their knuckles.

Best place to see
Natural History Museum.

Closest relative
Odd-toed hoofed animals (perissodactyls): tapir, horses, rhinos (and the extinct brontotheres)