Palaeotherium magnum

Also known as Great Palaeothere

These robust, tapir-like browsing mammals navigated the dense subtropical forests of ancient Europe, plucking soft leaves, shoots, and fallen fruits from the understory. Skeletal evidence of retracted nasal bones suggests they possessed a short, flexible proboscis similar to modern tapirs, aiding selective feeding among dense forest vegetation. As the climate cooled and open savannas expanded during the Grande Coupure extinction event, these specialized forest browsers vanished alongside many ancient European endemic lineages.