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Indricothere
Paraceratheriidae is an extinct family of long-limbed, hornless rhinocerotoids, commonly known as paraceratheres or indricotheres, that originated in the Eocene epoch and lived until the early Miocene. The first paraceratheres were only about the size of large dogs, growing progressively larger in the late Eocene and Oligocene. They were most common in the rainforest floodplain region which is now Kazakhstan, India, and southwest China, and lived further inland throughout northern and central Asia as well. The paraceratheres reached the peak of their evolution from the middle Oligocene to the early Miocene, where they became very large, herbivorous mammals. Most genera were about the size of modern draft horses and the extinct giant horse '' Equus giganteus'', with some growing significantly larger. The largest genus was ''Paraceratherium'', which was more than twice as heavy as a bull African elephant, and was one of the largest land mammals that ever lived. However, they rem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paraceratherium
''Paraceratherium'' is an extinct genus of hornless rhinoceros. It is one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has existed and lived from the early to late Oligocene epoch (34–23 million years ago). The first fossils were discovered in what is now Pakistan, and remains have been found across Eurasia between China and the Balkans. It is classified as a member of the family Paraceratheriidae. ''Paraceratherium'' means "near the hornless beast", in reference to '' Aceratherium'', the genus in which the type species ''P. bugtiense'' was originally placed. The exact size of ''Paraceratherium'' is unknown because of the incompleteness of the fossils. The shoulder height was about , and the length about . Its weight is estimated to have been about . The long neck supported a skull that was about long. It had large, tusk-like incisors and a nasal incision that suggests it had a prehensile upper lip or proboscis (trunk). The legs were long and pillar-like. The lifestyle of ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juxia
''Juxia'' (from , usually refers to indricotheres) is an extinct genus of indricothere, a group of herbivorous mammals that are part of the odd-toed ungulate family tree of rhinoceros and tapirs. The type species is ''Juxia sharamurenensis'', named by Zhou Mingzhen and in 1964. ''Juxia'' was around the size of a horse. It lived in Asia during the upper Eocene. As an early indricothere, ''Juxia'' had a relatively light body, held by elongated long legs and small skull firmly attached to a relatively long neck. Based on its triangular like teeth and sharp protruding incisors, ''Juxia'' was probably a strict browser, feeding on ferns and leaves on branches where most herbivorous mammals couldn't reach. In terms of habitat, ''Juxia'' lived in densely lush and tropical forests of what is now China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forstercooperia
''Forstercooperia'' is an extinct genus of forstercooperiine indricotheriinae, paraceratheriid Rhinocerotoidea, rhinoceros from the Middle Eocene of Asia. Description ''Forstercooperia'' is known from a vast amount of cranial material, although only some scant postcranial remains. The average size of the genus is about equal with a large dog, even though later genera like ''Juxia'' and ''Paraceratherium'' reached sizes of a cow and even much larger. Like primitive rhinocerotoids, ''Forstercooperia'' possesses blunt ends on the tips of its nasals, above the nasal incision. Unlike all modern rhinoceroses, the nasals of ''Forstercooperia'', as well as many related genera, lack rugosities, which suggests that they lacked any form of horn. The nasal incision extends fairly far into the upper jaw, ending just posterior to the canine. ''Forstercooperia'' possesses a small post-insicor diastema, not as large as its descendants, and similar in size to that of ''Hyracodon''. Taxonomy ''For ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dzungariotherium
''Dzungariotherium'' is a genus of indricothere, an extinct group of large, hornless rhinos, which lived during the middle and late Oligocene of northwest China. The type species ''D. orgosense'' was described in 1973 based on fossilsmainly teethfrom Dzungaria in Xinjiang, northwest China. Description The teeth of ''D. orgosense'' (from which that species is mainly known) are 25 percent larger than those of ''Paraceratherium transouralicum'', indicating that it was one of the largest known indricothere,Prothero, 2013. pp. 67–86 but the teeth and skull were proportionally large compared to the body, making it smaller overall. Skull length range is 126-143 cm. The mass of a ''D. sp'' specimen was estimated to be ~ 20.6 metric tons. ''Paraceratherium bugtiense'' and ''D. orgosense'' share features such as relatively slender maxillae The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich from his studies of marine beds in Belgium and Germany. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''olígos'', "few") and (''kainós'', "new"), and refers to the sparsity of extant forms of molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period. The Oligocene is often considered an important time of transition, a link between the archaic world of the tropical Eocene and the more modern ecosystems of the Miocene. Major changes during the Oligocene included a global expansi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aralotherium
''Aralotherium'' is an extinct genus of hornless rhinoceros closely related to ''Paraceratherium'', one of the largest terrestrial mammals that has ever existed. It lived in China and Kazakhstan during the late Oligocene epoch (28–23 million years ago). It is classified as a member of the Paraceratheriidae Paraceratheriidae is an extinct family of long-limbed, hornless rhinocerotoids, commonly known as paraceratheres or indricotheres, that originated in the Eocene epoch and lived until the early Miocene. The first paraceratheres were only about th ... subfamily Paraceratheriinae. Two species are known, ''A. prohorovi'' and ''A. sui''. References Oligocene rhinoceroses Chattian genus extinctions Prehistoric placental genera Chattian genus first appearances Prehistoric rhinoceroses Fossil taxa described in 1939 {{Paleo-oddtoedungulate-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buzdartherium
''Buzdartherium'' (meaning " Buzdar beast") is a dubious genus of extinct paraceratheriid from Oligocene and possibly also Miocene aged sediments from the Chitarwata Formation of Pakistan.Malkani, M. Sadiq. (2016). Large Photos of Recently discovered Basilosaurid, Baluchithere Rhinoceros, Horses, Sea Cow, Proboscidean, Eucrocodile, Pterosaurs, Plesiosaur, Fishes, Invertebrates and Wood fossils from Pakistan; ''Footprints and trackways of archosaurs from Pakistan''. The monotypic species is ''B. gulkirao'', named in 2016, and its remains have been found only in the Sulaiman Basin (Chitarwata Formation), which preserves rocks dating from as early as the Cretaceous, although the Indian Plate did not collide into the Eurasian Plate until about 30 million years ago, during the Early Oligocene. Discovery and naming The holotype of ''B. gulkirao'' is based on specimen MSM-1-Taunsa, which consists of a single tusk like incisor tooth, a premolar tooth, a cross-sectioned tooth, verteb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyracodontidae
The Hyracodontidae are an extinct family of rhinoceroses endemic to North America, Europe, and Asia during the Eocene through early Oligocene, living from 48.6 to 26.3 million years ago (Mya), existing about . The Hyracodontidae thrived in the rainforests of Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and southwest China Southwest China () is a region in the south of the People's Republic of China. Geography Southwest China is a rugged and mountainous region, transitioning between the Tibetan Plateau to the west and the Chinese coastal hills (东南丘陵) and ..., a former coastal region. Fossil evidence also extends their geographical range to Germany. References Further reading * Lucas, S. G. & Sobus, J. C., (1989), The Systematics of Indricotheres. 358–378 in Prothero, D. R. & Schoch, R. M., (eds.) 1989: The Evolution of Perissodactyls, Oxford University Press, New York, New York & Oxford, England. Prehistoric rhinoceroses Oligocene odd-toed ungulates Rupelian extinctions Prehist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tectonic Uplift
Tectonic uplift is the geologic uplift of Earth's surface that is attributed to plate tectonics. While isostatic response is important, an increase in the mean elevation of a region can only occur in response to tectonic processes of crustal thickening (such as mountain building events), changes in the density distribution of the crust and underlying mantle, and flexural support due to the bending of rigid lithosphere. Tectonic uplift results in denudation (processes that wear away the earth's surface) by raising buried rocks closer to the surface. This process can redistribute large loads from an elevated region to a topographically lower area as well – thus promoting an isostatic response in the region of denudation (which can cause local bedrock uplift). The timing, magnitude, and rate of denudation can be estimated by geologists using pressure-temperature studies. Crustal thickening Crustal thickening has an upward component of motion and often occurs when continental ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global Cooling
Global cooling was a conjecture, especially during the 1970s, of imminent cooling of the Earth culminating in a period of extensive glaciation, due to the cooling effects of aerosols or orbital forcing. Some press reports in the 1970s speculated about continued cooling; these did not accurately reflect the scientific literature of the time, which was generally more concerned with warming from an enhanced greenhouse effect. In the mid 1970s, the limited temperature series available suggested that the temperature had decreased for several decades up to then. As longer time series of higher quality became available, it became clear that global temperature showed significant increases overall. Introduction: general awareness and concern By the 1970s, scientists were becoming increasingly aware that estimates of global temperatures showed cooling since 1945, as well as the possibility of large scale warming due to emissions of greenhouse gases. In the scientific papers which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and overexploitation of soil as a result of human activity. Throughout geological history, the development of deserts has occurred naturally. In recent times, the potential influences of human activity, improper land management, deforestation and climate change on desertification is the subject of many scientific investigations. Definitions of words As recently as 2005, considerable controversy existed over the proper definition of the term "desertification." Helmut Geist (2005) identified more than 100 formal definitions. The most widely acceptedGeist (2005)p. 2/ref> of these was that of the Princeton University Dictionary which defined it as "the process of fertile land ''transforming int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', "dawn") and (''kainós'', "new") and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C. The end is set at a major extinction event called the ''Grande Coupure'' (the "Great Break" in continuity) or the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay. As with other geologic periods, the strata that define the start and end o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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