Abstract
Ice Age megafauna have long been known to be associated with global cooling during the Pleistocene, and their adaptations to cold environments, such as large body size, long hair, and snow-sweeping structures, are best exemplified by the woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos. These traits were assumed to have evolved as a response to the ice sheet expansion. We report a new Pliocene mammal assemblage from a high-altitude basin in the western Himalayas, including a primitive woolly rhino. These new Tibetan fossils suggest that some megaherbivores first evolved in Tibet before the beginning of the Ice Age. The cold winters in high Tibet served as a habituation ground for the megaherbivores, which became preadapted for the Ice Age, successfully expanding to the Eurasian mammoth steppe.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1285-1288 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Science |
| Volume | 333 |
| Issue number | 6047 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Fingerprint
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General
Cite this
Out of Tibet : Pliocene woolly rhino suggests high-plateau origin of ice age megaherbivores. / Deng, Tao; Wang, Xiaoming; Fortelius, Mikael; Li, Qiang; Wang, Yang; Tseng, Zhijie J.; Takeuchi, Gary T.; Saylor, Joel E; Säilä, Laura K.; Xie, Guangpu.
In: Science, Vol. 333, No. 6047, 02.09.2011, p. 1285-1288.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Out of Tibet
T2 - Pliocene woolly rhino suggests high-plateau origin of ice age megaherbivores
AU - Deng, Tao
AU - Wang, Xiaoming
AU - Fortelius, Mikael
AU - Li, Qiang
AU - Wang, Yang
AU - Tseng, Zhijie J.
AU - Takeuchi, Gary T.
AU - Saylor, Joel E
AU - Säilä, Laura K.
AU - Xie, Guangpu
PY - 2011/9/2
Y1 - 2011/9/2
N2 - Ice Age megafauna have long been known to be associated with global cooling during the Pleistocene, and their adaptations to cold environments, such as large body size, long hair, and snow-sweeping structures, are best exemplified by the woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos. These traits were assumed to have evolved as a response to the ice sheet expansion. We report a new Pliocene mammal assemblage from a high-altitude basin in the western Himalayas, including a primitive woolly rhino. These new Tibetan fossils suggest that some megaherbivores first evolved in Tibet before the beginning of the Ice Age. The cold winters in high Tibet served as a habituation ground for the megaherbivores, which became preadapted for the Ice Age, successfully expanding to the Eurasian mammoth steppe.
AB - Ice Age megafauna have long been known to be associated with global cooling during the Pleistocene, and their adaptations to cold environments, such as large body size, long hair, and snow-sweeping structures, are best exemplified by the woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos. These traits were assumed to have evolved as a response to the ice sheet expansion. We report a new Pliocene mammal assemblage from a high-altitude basin in the western Himalayas, including a primitive woolly rhino. These new Tibetan fossils suggest that some megaherbivores first evolved in Tibet before the beginning of the Ice Age. The cold winters in high Tibet served as a habituation ground for the megaherbivores, which became preadapted for the Ice Age, successfully expanding to the Eurasian mammoth steppe.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80052492245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=80052492245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1206594
DO - 10.1126/science.1206594
M3 - Article
VL - 333
SP - 1285
EP - 1288
JO - Science
JF - Science
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 6047
ER -