Man and the Glacial PeriodWright, G. Frederick (George Frederick)
History
Man and the Glacial Period
Wright, G. Frederick (George Frederick)
Glacial epoch; Prehistoric peoples
The mammoth and the rhinoceros we know to have been adapted to cold
climates by the possession of long hair and thick fur, but the
hippopotamus by its love for water would seem to be precluded from the
possession of this protective covering. It is suggested, however, by
Sir William Dawson, that he may have been adapted to arctic climates by
a fatty covering, as the walrus is at the present time. A difficulty in
accounting for many of the remains of the hippopotamus in some of the
English caverns is that they are so far away from present or possible
water-courses. But it would seem that due credit has not been ordinarily
given to the migratory instincts of the animal. In southern Africa they
are known to "travel speedily for miles over land from one pool of a
dried-up river to another; but it is by water that their powers of
locomotion are surpassingly great, not only in rivers, but in the sea....
The geologist, therefore, may freely speculate on the time when herds
of hippopotami issued from North African rivers, such as the Nile, and
swam northward in summer along the coasts of the Mediterranean, or even
occasionally visited islands near the shore. Here and there they may have
landed to graze or browse, tarrying awhile, and afterwards continuing
their course northward. Others may have swum in a few summer days from
rivers in the south of Spain or France to the Somme, Thames, or Severn,
making timely retreat to the south before the snow and ice set in."[DK]
[Footnote DK: Lyell, Antiquity of Man, p. 180,]
The Mastodon (_Mastodon Americanus_), (Fig. 88), "is probably the largest
land mammal known, unless we except the Dinotherium. It was twelve to
thirteen feet high, and, including the tusks, twenty-four to twenty-five
feet long. It differed from the elephant chiefly in the character of its
teeth. The difference is seen in Figs. 86 and 87. The elephant's tooth
given above (Fig. 86) is sixteen inches long, and the grinding surface
eight inches by four."
[Illustration: Fig. 88.--_Mastodon Americanus_ (after Owen).]
The mastodon, together with the mammoth, made their appearance about
the middle of the Miocene epoch. At the close of the Tertiary period
the mastodon became extinct on the Eastern Continent, but continued in
North America to be a companion of man well on toward the close of the
Glacial period. Many perfect skeletons have been found in the deposits
of this period in North America. "One magnificent specimen was found in
a marsh near Newburg, New York, with its legs bent under the body, and
the head thrown up, evidently in the very position in which it mired. The
teeth were still filled with the half-chewed remnants of its food, which
consisted of twigs of spruce, fir, and other trees; and within the ribs,
in the place where the stomach had been, a large quantity of similar
material was found."[DL]
[Footnote DL: Le Conte's Geology (edition of 1891), p. 582.]
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