About 25 million years ago (during the middle of the Tertiary Period), Asia was inhabited by huge mammals that would appear strange to us today. They included the largest and heaviest land mammal known: Indricotherium transouralicum—a gigantic hornless relative of the rhinoceros.

Indricotherium was about 8 m (26 ft.) long and 4.5 m (14.8 ft.) tall. It weighed approximately 11 t (12 tn.). Its massive body was supported by pillar-like, three-toed limbs, and was topped by a long neck and head. It was a tree-top browser much like the giraffe.

Remains of this extraordinary mammal have been found in China and Mongolia.