[From 1995] A Stone-Age Horse Still Roams a Tibetan Plateau

nyt ^ | November 12, 1995 | MARLISE SIMONS

[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.

[BenLurkin]

A gentle remindeer to always take "scientific theories" with a grain of salt.

[hinckley buzzard]

If you bother to read the whole article, you might find this to be a thoughtful and engaging story of unexpected discovery.

[wildbill]

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.

[Inyo-Mono]

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

[Inyo-Mono]

Oh boy, “over”=other.

[Octar]

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

Ed Horseface Schultz

[Verginius Rufus]

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.

[BenLurkin]

I read the whole article in 1995 and again today.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks BenLurkin. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[BenLurkin]

There was a photo with the printed article in 1995.

[BenLurkin]

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

[BenLurkin]

[bigheadfred]

I read the whole article in 1995 and again today.

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

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

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

[redhead]

Similar to Przewalski's Horse?

[BenLurkin]

[bigheadfred]

Point me in the right direction. LOL

[BenLurkin]

You’re there alrady.

[bigheadfred]

Almost...

[bruinbirdman]

Those horses don't look old enough to have been around with cavemen.

yitbos