Data from: The extinct, giant giraffid Sivatherium giganteum – skeletal reconstruction and body mass estimation

Sivatherium giganteum is an extinct giraffid from the Plio-Pleistocene boundary of the Himalayan foothills. Despite being closely related to the extant giraffids Okapia johnstoni and Giraffa camelopardalis, Sivatherium is morphologically distinct from either of these taxa. To date, there has been no rigorous skeletal reconstruction of this unusual mammal. Historical and contemporary accounts anecdotally state that Sivatherium rivalled the African elephant in terms of its body mass, but this statement has never been tested. Here we present a three-dimensional composite skeletal reconstruction, and calculate an estimate of a representative body mass for this species using a volumetric method. We find that the estimated adult body mass of 1548 kg (1058 – 2264 kg range) does not approach that of an African elephant, but confirms that Sivatherium was certainly a massive giraffid.