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[From 1995] A Stone-Age Horse Still Roams a Tibetan Plateau
nyt ^ | November 12, 1995 | MARLISE SIMONS

Posted on 03/30/2012 7:17:50 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Deep in Tibet... the explorers came upon the first of the enigmatic creatures. They saw one, and then three of them grazing in the open forest. Soon, to their astonishment, a whole herd of the unusual horses appeared.

"They looked completely archaic, like the horses in prehistoric cave paintings," said Michel Peissel, a French ethnologist and the expedition leader. "We thought it was just a freak, then we saw they were all alike."

A team of French and British explorers, who have just returned here from a six-week expedition in Tibet, say they believe that they found an ancient breed of horse previously unknown to scientists.

The Riwoche horse, as the explorers have named it after its home region in northeastern Tibet, is close to four feet high, about the size of a pony. Its head is triangular and has the same wedge shape as the zebra or as the vanished horses of European stone-age drawings. It has a beige coat, bristly mane, black stripe on its back and black lines on its lower legs.

The explorers and other scientists say the breed may provide a new piece in the puzzle of equine evolution. Although for many centuries horses have been vital to humans in work, transport and warfare, scientists say the tale of how horses developed and diversified is far from complete.

They say it took perhaps 50 million years for a small browsing animal, less than two feet high, named the Eohippus, to evolve and branch off into rhinos and tapirs as well as into the species that eventually developed into the zebra, ass, donkey and horse. The modern horse is thought to be five million years old. Cave men hunted it and ate it. Only for the last 3,000 to 5,000 years has the horse been domesticated.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: History; Pets/Animals; Science
KEYWORDS: agriculture; animalhusbandry; dietandcuisine; domestication; donkeys; equines; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; horse; horses; huntergatherers; unicorns
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A gentle remindeer to always take "scientific theories" with a grain of salt.
1 posted on 03/30/2012 7:17:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin
If you bother to read the whole article, you might find this to be a thoughtful and engaging story of unexpected discovery.
2 posted on 03/30/2012 7:27:18 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: BenLurkin; SunkenCiv

I’m a little surprised that a 3 page article didn’t have any pictures of this remarkable find.

I’m also a little leery of articles of this type that are posted near April 1.


3 posted on 03/30/2012 7:56:40 PM PDT by wildbill (You're just jealous because the Voices talk only to me.)
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To: BenLurkin

What over Stone Age creatures are still lurking out there unknown to science?


4 posted on 03/30/2012 7:57:25 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (My greatest fear is that when I'm gone my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them)
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To: Inyo-Mono

Oh boy, “over”=other.


5 posted on 03/30/2012 7:59:39 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (My greatest fear is that when I'm gone my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them)
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To: Inyo-Mono
What over Stone Age creatures are still lurking out there unknown to science?

Ed Horseface Schultz

6 posted on 03/30/2012 8:17:04 PM PDT by Octar
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To: BenLurkin

If the Eohippus was really the ancestor of the rhinoceros and tapir as well as the horse, our ancestors were smart to select the horse as the one to domesticate.


7 posted on 03/30/2012 8:24:21 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: hinckley buzzard

I read the whole article in 1995 and again today.


8 posted on 03/30/2012 8:32:37 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: BenLurkin; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks BenLurkin.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


9 posted on 03/30/2012 8:33:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him)
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To: wildbill

There was a photo with the printed article in 1995.


10 posted on 03/30/2012 8:33:21 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: SunkenCiv; wildbill

Photos here: http://www-cgi.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/tibet_pony/index.html


11 posted on 03/30/2012 8:35:05 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: wildbill

12 posted on 03/30/2012 8:37:38 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: BenLurkin; hinckley buzzard; SunkenCiv
I read the whole article in 1995 and again today.

ain'tent lerned a GDed thing ether time didja? LOL

13 posted on 03/30/2012 8:38:03 PM PDT by bigheadfred (MY PET TAPEWORM (OBIWAN) IS AN INSANE MILITARY HATING LEFTIST)
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To: BenLurkin

The world is filled with wonders. We have only to look.


14 posted on 03/30/2012 8:40:48 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Would you sing if someone sucked YOU up the vacuum cleaner hose?)
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To: BenLurkin
Similar to Przewalski's Horse?
15 posted on 03/30/2012 8:41:41 PM PDT by redhead (Alaska: Step out of the bus and into the food chain.)
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To: bigheadfred

16 posted on 03/30/2012 8:42:09 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: BenLurkin

Point me in the right direction. LOL


17 posted on 03/30/2012 8:46:43 PM PDT by bigheadfred (MY PET TAPEWORM (OBIWAN) IS AN INSANE MILITARY HATING LEFTIST)
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To: bigheadfred

You’re there alrady.


18 posted on 03/30/2012 8:51:46 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: BenLurkin
Almost...


19 posted on 03/30/2012 8:55:07 PM PDT by bigheadfred (MY PET TAPEWORM (OBIWAN) IS AN INSANE MILITARY HATING LEFTIST)
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To: BenLurkin
Those horses don't look old enough to have been around with cavemen.

yitbos

20 posted on 03/30/2012 9:03:24 PM PDT by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds." -- Ayn Rand)
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