Ceratotherium mauritanicum

Ceratotherium mauritanicum is an extinct species of African rhinoceros whose fossils are primarily known from the Late Pliocene to early Late Pleistocene of North Africa, specifically in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. The classification of certain Pliocene remains from East Africa as C. mauritanicum is debated, which in turn affects discussions about whether it was directly ancestral to the modern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). Current evidence suggests that C. mauritanicum was replaced in North Africa by C. simum during the early Late Pleistocene, between approximately 120,000 and 57,000 years ago.