This giant prehistoric rhino was the biggest land mammal to walk the Earth

(CNN)Paleontologists working in China have discovered a new species of giant rhino, the largest land mammal ever to have walked the earth.

Giant rhino, Paraceratherium, were mainly found in Asia, according to a press release from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published Friday.

The new species, Paraceratherium linxiaense, or Linxia Giant Rhino, was named by a Chinese and US team led by Deng Tao from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) at the academy, which analyzed fossils found in 2015.

“Usually fossils come in pieces, but this one is complete, with a very complete skull and a very complete jaw, which is rare,” Deng told CNN.

“The skull was more than a meter (three feet) long, and it was very rare for a skull of that size to be preserved. We also found the cervical spine,” he said.

The fossils were found in the Linxia basin in Gansu Province, northwestern China, and genetic analysis showed that they belonged to a new species of giant rhino.

The huge animal would have weighed 24 tons and was the same size as six elephants, Deng told CNN. Its shoulders were more than 16 feet off the ground, the head at 23 feet, and its body was 26 feet long, he added.

CNN