New inquiry has shed low-cal on the root in addition to extinction of a giant, shaggy Ice Age rhinoceros known equally the Siberian unicorn because of its extraordinary unmarried horn.
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| Australian scientists believe the Siberian unicorn was a victim of climate alter [Credit: WikiCommons] |
Published inward the magazine Nature Ecology in addition to Evolution in addition to led past times London's Natural History Museum, the researchers state the Siberian unicorn became extinct some 36,000 years ago. This was most probable because of reduction inward steppe grassland where it lived – due to climate alter rather than the touching on of humans.
Today in that location are only v surviving species of rhino, although inward the past times in that location accept been equally many equally 250 species.
Weighing upwards to 3.5 tonnes amongst a unmarried enormous horn, the Siberian unicorn (Elasmotherium sibiricum), which roamed the steppe of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, in addition to Northern China, was undoubtedly i of the most impressive.
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| Skeleton of the rhinoceros at the Stavropol Museum [Credit: Igor Doronin] |
"The ancestors of the Siberian unicorn divide from the ancestors of all living rhinos over twoscore i thou one thousand years ago," says co-author in addition to ACAD researcher doc Kieren Mitchell, who analysed the deoxyribonucleic acid of the Siberian unicorn. It is the start fourth dimension deoxyribonucleic acid has e'er been recovered from E. sibiricum.
"That makes the Siberian unicorn in addition to the African white rhinoceros fifty-fifty to a greater extent than distant cousins than humans are to monkeys."
This novel genetic bear witness overturns previous studies that suggested the Siberian unicorn was a really unopen relative of the extinct woolly rhinoceros in addition to living Sumatran rhino.
It had long been assumed that the Siberian unicorn went extinct good earlier the finally Ice Age, perhaps equally much equally 200,000 years ago.
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| Artist’s impression of Elasmotherium [Credit: © W. S. Van der Merwe/Natural History Museum] |
"It is unlikely that the presence of humans was the displace of extinction," says co-author Professor Chris Turney, climate scientist at the University of New South Wales.
"The Siberian unicorn appears to accept been badly hitting past times the start of the H2O ice historic menstruation inward Eurasia when a precipitous autumn inward temperature led to an increase inward the amount of frozen ground, reducing the tough, dry out grasses it lived on in addition to impacting populations over a vast region."
Other species that shared the Siberian unicorn's surround were either less reliant on grass – similar the woolly rhinoceros – or to a greater extent than flexible inward their diet – similar the saiga antelope – in addition to escaped the Siberian unicorn's fate, though the woolly rhinoceros eventually became extinct 20,000 years later.
Author: Robyn Mills | Source: University of Adelaide [November 27, 2018]
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