The intact fossil remains of two woolly rhinoceroses have been unearthed in northeast China's Jilin Province.

The skeleton of the male rhinoceros is 1.9 meters tall and 4.2 meters long. The height and length of the female are respectively 1.8 and 3.5 meters.

The discoverer, Professor Liu Han of Jilin University, said that intact fossil skeletons of woolly rhinoceroses have been found in other parts of China, such as Heilongjiang Province, but a male and female unearthed at the same time is certainly a unique phenomenon.

Experts at Northeast Normal University have determined that the two rhinoceroses, which belong to the same genus as the mammoth, lived 20,530 years ago.

Meanwhile, Prof Liu and the local nature reserve administration bureau have found over 500 fossils of primeval bears, tigers and oxen in the area.

(Xinhua News Agency 10/07/2001)