parent_taxon sinotherium
The ___MASK8___ is a geologic period and system that spans 20 . 45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( ___MASK27___ ) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period ___MASK27___ . The ___MASK8___ is sub - divided into two epochs , the earlier Miocene and the later Pliocene . Some geologists assert that the ___MASK8___ cannot be clearly delineated from the modern geological period , the Quaternary . Sir Charles Lyell , 1st Baronet , ( 14 November 1797  22 February 1875 ) was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day . He is best known as the author of " Principles of Geology ", which popularized James Hutton ' s concepts of uniformitarianism  the ___MASK13___ that the Earth was shaped by the same processes still in operation today . " Principles of Geology " also challenged theories popularized by Georges Cuvier , which were the most accepted and circulated ideas about geology in England at the time . Elasmotherium (" Thin Plate Beast "), also known as the Giant ___MASK59___ or Giant Siberian Unicorn , is an extinct genus of ___MASK59___ endemic to Eurasia during the Late Pliocene through the Pleistocene , documented from 2 . 6 Ma to as late as 29 , 000 years ago in the Late Pleistocene . Three species are recognised . The best known , " E . sibiricum ", was the size of a mammoth and is thought to have borne a large , thick horn on its forehead . Theories about the function of this horn include defence , attracting mates , driving away competitors , sweeping snow from the grass in winter and digging for water and plant roots . Like all rhinoceroses , elasmotheres were herbivorous . Unlike any others , its high - crowned molars were ever - growing . Its legs were longer than those of other rhinos and were adapted for galloping , giving it a horse - like gait . The Miocene is the first geological epoch of the ___MASK8___ Period and extends from about ( Ma ). The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell . Its name comes from the Greek words (',  less ) and (',  new ) and means " less recent " because it has 18 % fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene . The Miocene follows the Oligocene Epoch and is followed by the Pliocene Epoch . Iranotherium (" Beast of Iran ") was a large elasmothere ___MASK59___ , as big as a modern white rhino , found in the Middle East and Central Asia . It was a precursor of the related " Sinotherium ", and may have been ultimately outcompeted by its descendant . Males were larger than the females and had more developed muscle scars on the zygomatic arch . Pakistan ( or ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan , is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia . It is the sixth - most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people . It is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of ___MASK36___ with an ___MASK36___ covering . Pakistan has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east , Afghanistan to the west , Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively . It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan ' s narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north , and also shares a maritime border with Oman . A ___MASK59___ ( meaning " nose horn "), often abbreviated to rhino , is one of any five extant species of odd - toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae , as well as any of the numerous extinct species . Two of these extant species are native to Africa and three to Southern Asia . A sovereign state is , in international law , a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralised government that has sovereignty over a geographic ___MASK36___ . International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population , defined territory , one government , and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states . It is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state . Invertebrates are animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column ( commonly known as a " backbone " or " spine "), derived from the notochord . This includes all animals apart from the subphylum ___MASK20___ . Familiar examples of invertebrates include ___MASK12___ ; crabs , lobsters and their kin ; snails , clams , octopuses and their kin ; starfish , sea - urchins and their kin ; and worms . Nagorno - Karabakh , officially the Nagorno - Karabakh Republic ( NKR ; " Lernayin Gharabaghi Hanrapetut ' yun "), Artsakh Republic or Republic of Artsakh (" Arts ' akhi Hanrapetut ' yun "), is an unrecognised republic in the South Caucasus . The region is considered by the UN to be part of Azerbaijan , but is under the control of ethnic Armenian separatists . The NKR controls most of the territory of the former Nagorno - Karabakh Autonomous Oblast and some of the surrounding ___MASK36___ , giving it a border with Armenia to the west , Iran to the south , and the uncontested territory of Azerbaijan to the north and east . The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia . The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean ( Gulf of Oman ) through the Strait of Hormuz and lies between Iran to the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula to the southwest . The Shatt al - Arab river ___MASK38___ forms the northwest shoreline . Tehran ( " Tehrn ") is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province . With a population of around 9 million in the city and 16 million in the wider metropolitan ___MASK36___ , Tehran is the most populous city of Iran , the 2nd - most populous city in Western Asia and the 3rd - largest metropolitan ___MASK36___ in the Middle East . It is ranked 29th in the world by the population of its metropolitan ___MASK36___ . Turkey , officially the Republic of Turkey ( Turkish : ), is a transcontinental country in Eurasia , mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia , with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe . Turkey is a democratic , secular , unitary , parliamentary republic with a diverse cultural heritage . Turkey is bordered by eight countries : Greece to the west ; ___MASK15___ to the northwest ; Georgia to the northeast ; Armenia , the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran to the east ; and Iraq and Syria to the south . The Aegean Sea is to the west , the Black Sea to the north , and the Mediterranean Sea to the south . The Bosphorus , the Sea of ___MASK68___ , and the Dardanelles , which together form the Turkish Straits , divide Thrace and Anatolia ; they also separate Europe and Asia . Turkey ' s location has given it geopolitical and strategic importance throughout history . Iran (, also , ; ' ), also known as Persia , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (' ), is a sovereign state in Western Asia . It is bordered to the northwest by Armenia , the " de facto " Nagorno - Karabakh Republic , and Azerbaijan ; to the north by the Caspian Sea ; to the northeast by Turkmenistan ; to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan ; to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman ; and to the west by Turkey and Iraq . Comprising a land ___MASK36___ of , it is the second - largest country in the Middle East and the 18th - largest in the world . With 82 . 8 million inhabitants , Iran is the world ' s 17th - most - populous country . It is the only country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline . The country ' s central location in Eurasia and Western Asia , and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz , make it of great geostrategic importance . Tehran is the country ' s capital and largest city , as well as its leading economic center . The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by ___MASK36___ , variously classed as the world ' s largest lake or a full - fledged sea . It is in an endorheic basin ( it has no outflows ) located between Europe and Asia . It is bound by Kazakhstan to the northeast , Russia to the northwest , Azerbaijan to the west , Iran to the south , and Turkmenistan to the southeast . The Pliocene ( also Pleiocene ) Epoch is the epoch in the geologic timescale that extends from 5 . 333 million to 2 . 58 million years BP . It is the second and youngest epoch of the ___MASK8___ Period in the Cenozoic Era . The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch . Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale , which placed the four most recent major glaciations entirely within the Pleistocene , the Pliocene also included the Gelasian stage , which lasted from 2 . 588 to 1 . 806 million years ago , and is now included in the Pleistocene . Sinotherium ( `` Chinese Beast '' ) was a genus of single - horned rhinoceri of the late Miocene and Pliocene . It was ancestral to Elasmotherium , and its fossils have been found in western China . Sinotherium diverged from the ancestral genus , Iranotherium , first found in Iran , during the early Pliocene . Some experts prefer to lump Sinotherium , and Iranotherium into Elasmotherium . Its synonym , `` Paraelasmotherium , '' is often used to refer to the Miocene specimens .