Platybelodon grangeri

skeleton of a shovel-jawed gomphothere, a proboscidean (elephant) from the Miocene of Mongolia. It seems that they used their strange lower jaw to strip branches off trees.

The signage shows what the species would have looked like in life:




The skull in the lower part of the photo is also a Platybelodon grangeri, the huge skeleton in the back is Stegodon huanghoensis.

For those interested in palaeontology, the Palaeozoological Museum Of China is absolutely outstanding. The museum is on three floors, the lower one for dinosaurs including several fully-mounted skeletons (the displays are a mix of real fossils and casts) and fossil fish, the next floor for more dinosaurs and birds, and the third for mammals. Really fascinating fossils here, although unfortunately all the signage is in Chinese apart for the scientific names.

Visited September 2013.