New research reveals that rhinos migrated along the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau 20 million years ago

China News Service, Beijing, November 23 (Reporter Sun Zifa) Tens of millions of years ago, did the migration of rhinos on the earth travel through the southern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at that time? A new study by Chinese scientists on prehistoric rhino fossils revealed that the horned rhinoceros migrated along the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the Oligocene-Miocene transition period about 20 million years ago
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China Ke Xueyuan Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology ( in Keyuan ancient spine of the) team by Deng Tao produced in Shandong Wang Shan basin, early Miocene rhinoceros family bantam latest revised and rhinoceros skeleton fossils In-depth research, and put forward new hypotheses about its evolutionary migration history-its migration route from Europe to East Asia is more likely to pass through the Kazakhstan region of Central Asia, that is, through the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, rather than the previously generally believed southern edge
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This important research paper in the field of ancient rhino evolution has recently been published online in "Asian Geosciences", which provides new clues for studying the evolution and migration history of mammals during the transition from Oligocene to Miocene.
The uplift of the plateau has had a significant impact on the evolution and development of zoogeographical fauna
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Researcher Deng Tao told a reporter from China News Agency in Beijing on the 23rd that the stratum age of the fossils produced in the Shanwang Basin in Shandong is the Early Miocene period.
The fossils are complete and exquisite.
There are not only plant leaf fossils, but also fish and frogs.
Skeleton fossils of vertebrates such as species, crocodiles and mammals
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Among them, the earliest research on rhinoceros was the "near hornless rhinoceros" named in 1937 by Mr.

In this latest study, the research team discovered new rhino skeleton fossils in the Shanwang Basin, which interprets the morphological characteristics of the Shanwang species, especially its large upper and lower incisors, developed angle seats at the nose, and strong front and back foot bones
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Based on this, the research team revised the Shanwang species and classified it into the genus Rhinoceros in the dwarf-footed rhinoceros genus

Deng Tao pointed out that the earliest fossil record of horned rhinoceros was found in the Late Oligocene strata in France.
Europe is also the most fossil-rich region in this genus.
Asia was previously only found in the Early Miocene strata in Kazakhstan, Central Asia
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The skeleton fossils found in the Shanwang Basin of Shandong Province in this study extended the distribution of Rhinoceros to East Asia, and also revealed its distinctive evolutionary and migration history from the Late Oligocene to the Early Miocene

After comparing the geohistorical distribution of the rhinos of the same era, it is found that most of the genera and species shared by Asia and Europe are found in South and Southeast Asia, that is, their migration passes through the southern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
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However, “the lack of strata in South Asia and Southeast Asia indicates that its migration route from Europe to East Asia is more likely to pass through the Kazakhstan region of Central Asia, that is, through the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, indicating that the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has been completed.

Deng Tao said that the research team will further conduct in-depth research on rhinos and other mammals in the critical transition period of the Oligocene/Miocene, and clarify more details of the impact of climate and environmental changes on the ecological environment