Judging from the locations of found fossils, most of the glacial mammoths were found near cliffs near rivers or lakes, indicating that many of them suffered the same fate as the Lebesovka mammoths.
Other causes of death include straying into glacier crevices or falling into swamps. In short, the ice sheet is both their home and their tomb.
With the first harvest, it means that Han Peacock's judgment is correct, so the second harvest, the third harvest, until a hairless monster over one meter long.
"The terrain here is like a swamp and an ice cave." After carefully examining the underground environment, Han Peacock could clearly feel the ice caves, swamps and rocks.
Such a strange terrain is a natural trap. There should be more than one kind of hairless monster here, right?
Han Peacock looked at the huge flat land, which was surrounded by mountains. Only the Beresovka River meandered around the canyons in the mountains and passed through the plain.
The area where the Korean Peacock is now is not large, but the plain across the Beresovka River is even wider.
"This river divides this mountainous plain into two parts. This side is just a small corner. If there are mammoths here, then there should be ones on the other side." Han Peacock soon came to a conclusion.
"What is this?" On a plain, Han Peacock unexpectedly discovered a creature buried more than ten meters underground. Because the ground is partially hollow, it is very easy to dig.
When it was dug out, everyone was surprised because the thing looked so strange.
This creature, whose whole body is wrapped in ice and hairless, looks more like a hippopotamus than an elephant.
It was about the same size as a current juvenile Asian elephant, so it probably lived part of the time in the water. Like a hippopotamus, its eyes and ears were high on its head so that they could still be seen when wallowing in the swamp.
Get out of the water and observe your surroundings.
It does not have a long trunk, but it has some features that are very similar to those of elephants when they first evolved, and it is nearly 1 meter tall.
At first, Han Peacock thought it was an underage mammoth, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was simply an unknown creature with no hair, tusks, or even a long trunk.
"What is this? Isn't it a mammoth?" Mu Ling asked curiously.
Han Peacock looked at this creature for a while before replying: "Is it the ancestral elephant? Although the ancestral elephant looks like an elephant, this thing lives in the tropics. How could it appear here?"
Mu Ling said: "Isn't it said that Siberia was originally a tropical rainforest area? Maybe it's because of this that this kind of creature appears that obviously lives in places with dense rivers and swamps."
Han Peacock nodded. The ancestor elephant lived tens of millions of years ago. At that time, Siberia might have been a tropical rainforest area.
Thinking of the hill-like mammoths, it is difficult to imagine that the Elephantus is also a type of elephant and one of the ancestors of the elephant family.
The survival period of the ancestor elephants was not short. From the Eocene to the Oligocene, it lasted about 20 to 30 million years.
When it bids farewell to the earth's stage, it can be said to have retired with success, because the various proboscis animals that have been reproduced through the ancestor elephant are now heading towards prosperity and are gradually spreading all over the world.
Because some of the characteristics of the ancestral elephant are very similar to those when elephants began to evolve, when people first discovered it, they thought it was the ancestor of the elephant, so they named it the ancestral elephant.
However, according to the latest research, another type of ancient elephant found in Africa is the real ancestor of elephants, and the Archeleonidae is just an extinct branch in the evolutionary history of Proboscidea.
The Tanqiuotherium and Mingzhenotherium found in Asia may be proboscis animals that are older than the ancestor of Elephantus.
Therefore, Archeopteryx is just a branch of the evolutionary history of Proboscidea. It has a clumsy body, about the size of a hippopotamus, with flat hooves at the ends of its toes. It has neither a long nose nor long tusks, but its upper lip is slightly larger and the second part of the upper and lower jaws.
The opposite incisors are also slightly larger.
The ancestor elephant lived 5,000,000 years ago. The ancestor elephant had a clumsy body, and this characteristic has been inherited to modern elephants.
It often appears deep in dense forests and likes to eat fresh leaves or twigs.
We often compare elephant legs to four large pillars, but the limbs of the ancestor elephant are only short pillars at best. Its wide feet were inherited by future generations.
However, the long, retractable trunk and the mighty big tusks have not yet grown on this senator, but there are only some signs.
The ancestral elephant does not live as long as its descendants. Its teeth grow and are used at the same time, and due to their aging, their lifespan is not very long.
For animals that live on herbivores, losing their teeth means losing their lives. They are different from humans. The ancestor elephant went through a series of intricate evolutions before evolving into modern elephants step by step.
No one would have thought that the ancient ancestors of elephants, giant slow-moving landlubbers, once lived in the water and spent their time in rivers and swamps every day.
Modern people all know that elephants are related to modern buffaloes, but they have never thought that the ancestors of elephants would live in the water. Now that this evolutionary link has been found, the ancestor elephant is the best proof.
The ancient ancestor of this kind of elephant, called Archeopteryx, was huge in stature and had small eyes on its long trunk. It lived in the Eocene Epoch.
The ancestors had a diet very similar to that of aquatic animals, and their lifestyle was similar to that of today's hippos. They often spent time in rivers and swamps, unlike whales that spent their entire lives swimming in the water.
Another reason why they are not 100% aquatic animals is because their weight is supported entirely by their feet, and they use their feet to walk.
The ancestral elephant discovered by Han Peacock is estimated to weigh 225-35o kilograms, which is much smaller than the mammoth, but at more than 500 kilograms, it is considered a giant among today's animals.
"It seems there are more than just mammoth fossils here!" Huangshan said with emotion after learning that this thing was very rare.
Jin Yao said: "Isn't the woolly rhinoceros also found here? Is it so strange to find a hairless ancestor elephant now?"
Huangshan glared at the golden demon and said, "What I mean is that there may be other types of fossils."
"I'm not stupid, so I naturally know what you mean, but don't you think it sounds like nonsense?" Jin Yao said with a smile.
Han Peacock also laughed, and finally he said: "There are other species. The location here is a bit complicated. It is surrounded by mountains and not far away is a river. And this plain that looks very flat is covered with snow.
, but there are holes in the ice.”
"Ice cave? Is it because of this condition that the ancestor elephant from tens of millions of years ago can be preserved?" Mu Ling said a little excitedly.
Han Peacock said: "Not only the ancestral elephants, but also any creature that falls into this trap may be preserved. For example, the ivory here is actually curved, not upward, but downward. And this
One of them looks a bit like a saber-toothed elephant, with teeth like a sharp sword. Is this a natural elephant museum?"
As Han Kongque's spiritual consciousness continued to extend outwards, he discovered more and more elephants that looked like mammoths, but with different characteristics.
The most peculiar ones are the two types that Han Peacock just mentioned. In the evolution process of elephants, there are several types worth mentioning.
The peculiar Deinodon can be said to be "unprecedented and unprecedented". Its direct ancestors and descendants are not clear, and it is truly "unknown".
As the name suggests, the Deinodon was very tall, standing up to 5 meters tall.
It has a long and flexible nose that can sweep away obstacles on its way, even vicious crocodiles and tigers.
What's even more weird is its pair of large tusks, which don't point upward, but downward and curve back. It's really unique.
As for the purpose of this ivory, there are different opinions. Some people say that it is the best tool for digging fresh sweet grass roots, while others come up with a more unique reason: Deinodon likes to sleep beside cool ponds to avoid falling into the water.
When a phenomenon occurs, they use curved ivory to hook the branches. This is a very imaginative explanation to get the best of both worlds.
Some people think that this is a tool used to dig holes, because Deinodon does not like to sleep in the open and usually lives in caves, which is contrary to the second theory.
The more common view is that it is a defensive weapon. Generally speaking, the bright and sharp fangs of animals are used for self-defense.
The Evolution and Genealogy of Elephants However, the position of the two sharp knives of Deinodon is a bit too weird, because there is no conclusion. Anyone can imagine based on their shape, but no one can decide which is right and which is wrong.
In modern times, the ancient elephants that people are familiar with include, in addition to the mammoth, the Archelephant and Deinodon, and then the Stegodon. The Stegodon has accompanied human ancestors for many days.
Among the large number of human fossils in our country, there are always fossils of the "giant panda-sabertooth tiger fauna".
In the spring of 1973, some farmers in Gan Province discovered a very complete Stegodon fossil while digging in the sand. Because this area belongs to the Yellow River Basin, it was called Yellow River Stegodon, commonly known as the Yellow River Elephant.
Judging from its physical characteristics, it is similar to that of modern African elephants. It can also be speculated that the climate in Longdong at that time was similar to that of the Sahara Desert in Africa today, rather than today's Loess Plateau.
Stegodon fossils have special significance among Chinese people. Their molars are called "green dragon teeth" by the common people and are used as traditional Chinese medicine.
The "keel bone" is also the fossil of a mammal such as Stegodon.
"The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is the earliest document to record "dragon bones". "Dragon bones" are also called "Buddha bones" and are enshrined in temples and worshiped by faithful men and women.
The so-called "Buddha bones" refer to the remains of Sakyamuni. The emperor of the Tang Dynasty designated Buddhism as the state religion to cater to the people's psychology and use "Buddha bones" to win the trust of the people.
Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty once welcomed the "Buddha Bones" to the palace for enshrinement with great fanfare. The great poet Han Yu, who was the Minister of Punishment at the time, believed that this was a waste of people and money and had no great significance. The purpose was just to confuse the masses.
Therefore, he wrote an article "Admonition to Welcome the Buddha's Bone Table" to elaborate on the matter, but was demoted to Chaozhou by Emperor Xianzong. This is a very famous allusion in the history of literature. (To be continued.) 8