According to an article published in the journal Science on September 2, archaeologists have found the fossil of a woolly rhinoceros in the Tibetan Plateau.
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This is believed to be the oldest specimen of its kind, suggesting that some of the giant mammals first evolved in what is now Tibet before the start of the Ice Age.
The animal lived 3.6 million years ago, long before similar animals were present on the Eurasian continents during the Ice Age.
The extinct species had developed special adaptations, scraping snow to find vegetation using its flattened horns. This was a useful survival behavior in the harsh climate of Tibet. These rhinos
lived at a time when the Earth’s climate was much warmer and the northern continents did not have the huge ice sheets that accompanied the Ice Age.
When the Ice Age began around 2.6 million years ago, these cold-loving rhinos moved down from the high mountains and began to spread across northern Asia and Europe.
“This is the oldest specimen ever discovered,” said Xiaoming Wang of the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. “It is at least 1 million years older than any known woolly rhinoceros. The fossil is remarkably well preserved and only slightly crushed. The entire skull and lower jaw are intact.”
The archaeological team said the discovery of the ancient rhinoceros fossil supports the hypothesis that the icy lowlands at the foot of the Himalayas in Tibet were once the evolutionary cradle of giant Ice Age animals./.