Evolution (Biology); Glacial epoch; Human beings -- Origin; Human evolution
If we consult Dr. Von Schrenck's account of the living mammalia of
Mongolia, lying between latitude 45 and 55 degrees north, we learn
that, in that part of North-Eastern Asia recently annexed to the Russian
empire, no less than thirty-four out of fifty-eight living quadrupeds
are identical with European species, while some of those which do not
extend their range to Europe are arctic, others tropical forms. The
Bengal tiger ranges northwards occasionally to latitude 52 degrees
north, where he chiefly subsists on the flesh of the reindeer, and the
same tiger abounds in latitude 48 degrees, to which the small tailless
hare or pika, a polar resident, sometimes wanders southwards.*
(* Mammalia of Amoorland, "Natural History Review" volume 1
1861 page 12.)
We may readily conceive that the countries now drained by the Thames,
the Somme, and the Seine, were, in the Pleistocene period, on the
borders of two distinct zoological provinces, one lying to the north,
the other to the south, in which case many species belonging to each
fauna endowed with migratory habits, like the living musk-ox or the
Bengal tiger, may have been ready to take advantage of any, even the
slightest, change in their favour to invade the neighbouring province,
whether in the summer or winter months, or permanently for a series of
years, or centuries. The Elephas antiquus and its associated Rhinoceros
leptorhinus may have preceded the mammoth and tichorhine rhinoceros in
the valley of the Thames, or both may have alternately prevailed in the
same area in the Pleistocene period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account