Exposures of fluvial and lacustrine sediments of the Zanda Basin, where the skeleton of the Zanda horse was excavated (Image by Den Tao)
Posted on 04/29/2012 3:17:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Tibetan Plateau has gradually risen since the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate at about 55 Ma. Regardless of the debates over the rising process and elevation of the plateau, there is no doubt that the Himalayas have appeared as a mountain range since the Miocene, with the appearance of vegetation vertical zones following thereafter. Open grasslands per se have no direct relationship to elevation, because they can have different elevations in different regions of the world, having a distribution near the sea level to the extreme high plateaus. On the other hand, the southern margin of the Tibetan Plateau has been high and steep to follow the uplift of this plateau so that the open landscape must be above the timberline in the vegetation vertical zones. Because the Zanda Basin is located on the south edge of the Tibetan Plateau, its vegetation ecosystem is tightly linked to the established vertical zones along the Himalayas. In the Zanda area, the modern timberline is at an elevation of 3,600 m between the closed forest and the open steppe. The locomotive analysis indicates that the Zanda horse was more suited to live in an open environment above the timberline, as opposed to a dense forest. The inference of high-elevation open habitat is supported by the carbon isotope data, which indicate that grasses ingested by the the Zanda horse, like the modern wild Tibetan asses, were cool-season grasses commonly found in high-elevation ecosystems. Other mid-Pliocene mammalian forms from Zanda also indicate an open landscape.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Exposures of fluvial and lacustrine sediments of the Zanda Basin, where the skeleton of the Zanda horse was excavated (Image by Den Tao)
Two cursorial Zanda horses are running fast in their open steppe habitat of the Tibetan Plateau (illustrated by Yu Chen)
I sure the reason the author needs to point this out is because ... Well really I'm not sure why unless he doesn't believe his own BS.
ML/NJ
Kain-Tucky Derby is coming up next weekend ~ the time they’re giving is 7 PM which sounds just wrong, so be sure to check it out first.
Sounds kinda kinky :)
What is 55ma?
They look like they have zebra in their recent history.
Title sounded real interesting...and then I fell asleep.
For years, it was thought that the “chestnuts” inside of modern horses forelegs were vestiges of one of their 2 extra toes, but this has been debunked recently. From this drawing, it appears that the toes were absorbed or melded into the main hoof.
Oops, I should have said melded into the Fetlock.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Whinny, lose, or draw ping. |
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55 million years ago.
I think they dropped a letter.
55 mya would be 55 million years ago.
It isn’t BS — grasslands don’t have a direct relationship to elevation, because latitude also has an impact.
A typo: should of been, "what's 55, ma?"
"55 is a number, son."
I was just roasting some over an open fire.
Common relatives, but of course it’s an artist’s conception.
And now I’ve got that Neil Diamond song going through my head...
Roasting horse? You beast!
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