Start

Palaeotherium
Physical Attributes
Kingdom	Mammalia
Species
Eye Color	Varying
Skin Color	Varying

Palaeotherium, also known by the name "start", was a small mammal that lived during the ice age.

Traits

Small, round mammals, the Palaeotherium had small ears, short necks and stubby limbs ending in stout three-toed feet and short tails. The Palaeotherium most notably had short trunks near their mouths that were not much use in holding onto things but still had feeling. The Palaeotherium usually moved in herds and were not known for being able to move very fast due to their short legs and feet. Almost hairless, the Palaeotherium had grayish skins, though some individuals were somewhat darker in hue.

History

Palaeotherium, along with other animals, engaged in a long migration from north to south in a move to escape the ice ages and head to warmer lands down south. The Palaeotherium, along with a number of other creatures, gradually made it to the warmer climates and made use of the naturally-occurring pools and water slides that were the result of the melting ice, but left the water parks once they were informed that the ice and snow were melting, which would flood the valley that the Palaeotherium and all other animals lived in. The Palaeotherium, along with all other creatures, left alive and sought out homes elsewhere. Among those that went on to find new homes were some that met an angry Tyrannosaurus Rex, thought to have been extinct, that was searching for her young. In time, the Palaeotherium were among those animals that existed during the days of the continental drift and made the move out of the land they once lived in, as it was being threatened by the drifting landmasses, making it to a new island home by way of an ocean bound iceberg that they boarded. Few years later, some Palaeotheriums witnessed a meteor shower, and, not long after that, they were invited to the wedding of Peaches and Julian, two mammoths that were members of the herd that stopped a deadly asteroid.

Behind the Scenes

The Palaeotherium was referred to as "trunkless start" in production and was designed as a much thicker animal than actual Palaeotherium. Additionally, they, like many of the animals featured in the Ice Age films, are not actual creatures of the ice ages, but rather the era preceding them, approximately thirty-five million years back.