How big were mammoths?

Nihewan Basin

Before 2003, international academic circles believed that as the most important intermediate link in the evolution of mammoths in Eurasia, the steppe mammoth was about 1.2 million years old. Formerly originated in Siberia. After studying the mammoth fossils unearthed from the third cultural layer of the Maquangou site in Nihewan, Hebei Province, Chinese archaeological experts suggested that China was the origin of the steppe mammoth, which pushed the origin of the steppe mammoth forward fifty years. About ten thousand years.

Ancient mammoth tooth fossils were discovered in the third cultural layer of the Maquangou site in Nihewan, Hebei.

Since 2001, Dr. Wei Guangbiao from the Chongqing Natural History Museum, researcher Jin Changzhu from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and researcher Xie Fei from the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau have been conducting research on horses from Nihewan, Hebei Province. We studied the mammoth fossils unearthed from the third cultural layer of the Quangou site. These fossils are not complete, just a few fragmentary incisor and molar fossils. But for experts engaged in paleontological research, even a small tooth, It can also reveal information about creatures hundreds of millions of years ago.

According to Dr. Wei Guangbiao, the Nihewan site is located on the bank of the Sanggan River in Yangyuan County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, more than 100 kilometers away from Beijing. The Nihewan Maquangou site contains very rich mammals and Fossils of other animals and plants are key areas for searching for the earliest human remains in Asia. In particular, many animal remains of elephants, rhinoceros, deer, horses and other animals were found in the third cultural layer of the Maquangou site.

After careful study of these incisor and molar fossils, the researchers found that these incisor fossils were curved upward and backward and convoluted, which was completely consistent with the characteristics of mammoth incisors, and it can be seen from the molar fossils that The tooth plates are tightly arranged, with as many as 18 in number. “According to our understanding of the evolution of mammoths, from the initial Romanian elephants in Eurasia to the later woolly mammoths, the number of tooth plates in their molars is constantly increasing. The number of tooth plates in the third molar of the Romanian elephant does not exceed 10, and the number of tooth plates in the third molar of the southern elephant does not exceed 16. In the steppe mammoth, the number of tooth plates in the third molar has increased to 17 to 22. The woolly mammoth has the largest number of tooth plates. The third molar has no less than 20 tooth plates and can have up to 30 tooth plates,” Dr. Wei Guangbiao explained, “This way we can determine that these tooth fossils come from a single body. Huge steppe mammoth. ”

Based on stratigraphic structural analysis, researchers preliminarily inferred that the steppe mammoth should have originated in North China.

What makes Dr. Wei Guangbiao even more excited is that through comparison of stratigraphic structure and ancient fauna, researchers have preliminarily speculated that steppe mammoths appeared in North my country at least 1.36 million years ago. Before this, the view generally recognized by the international academic community was put forward by British scholar Lister - the steppe mammoth originated in northeastern Siberia about 1.2 million years ago. In other words, China may be the true origin of steppe mammoths.

The basis for Dr. Wei Guangbiao’s speculation is that the third cultural layer of the Maquangou site where the steppe mammoth fossils are located is 12 to 20 meters lower than the geological layer of the Xiaochangliang site next to it. , according to the rules of stratigraphic deposition, on the same continuous sedimentary section, the higher the location, the younger the geological age of the sediments. Prior to this, the geological age of the lowest layer of the Xiaochangliang Formation has been determined to be 136 years ago based on paleomagnetic evidence. ten thousand years, then the geological age of the third cultural layer of the Maquangou site, which is lower than it, must be at least 1.36 million years earlier than before.

The third cultural layer of the Maquangou site ■Photography/our reporter Qu Liyan

According to preliminary research results, in 2003, Wei Guangbiao, Osaka Natural History Museum Hiroyuki Taruno, and Chinese Academy of Sciences Vertebrate Paleontology Together with Jin Changzhu of the Institute of Paleoanthropology and Xie Fei of the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, they published a paper titled "The world's earliest steppe mammoth specimen was discovered in the Early Pleistocene Nihewan Formation in northern China" in the Japanese professional journal "Earth Science". The idea that steppe mammoths likely originated in North China was proposed for the first time.

The academic views of Chinese scholars are generally recognized and accepted by European scholars.

After the publication of Dr. Wei Guangbiao's paper, it caused a strong response in the European paleontological community. "After that, I have been conducting academic discussions on the origin of steppe mammoths through E-MAIL and Lister." Dr. Wei Guangbiao said The situation at that time was still fresh in my memory. “The main academic viewpoints in the paper were quickly recognized and accepted by European scholars represented by Lister and Sher.” Chinese scholars occupied a place in the international field of mammoth research for the first time.

The research is still in depth, and Dr. Wei Guangbiao has also been waiting for a result, which is to finally determine the exact geological age of the third cultural layer of the Maquangou site through paleomagnetic measurements, providing the basis for their steppe mammoths in China. The origin theory provides more rigorous evidence and can ultimately determine the origin time of steppe mammoths in China.

In 2004, Dr. Wei Guangbiao and his collaborators published the latest research progress again in the internationally renowned academic journal "International Quaternary". He deduced that the steppe mammoths were probably descended from a more primitive species in North China. The southern elephant evolved from the southern elephant, and it is determined that the steppe mammoth became a species between 2 million and 1.5 million years ago.

Subsequently, with North China as the center, steppe mammoths spread westward to Europe, eastward to Japan, and northward to Siberia, where they further evolved into the most advanced woolly mammoth 800,000 years ago.

The theory of the origin of steppe mammoths in China has been confirmed, and the origin time has been pushed forward by at least 500,000 years.

At the end of 2004, the results Dr. Wei Guangbiao expected finally came out. Academician Zhu Rixiang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others published an article in Nature. According to paleomagnetic evidence, the strata containing elephant fossils in the Maquangou site in Nihewan The geological age was finally determined to be 1.66 million years ago. This conclusion provides strong support for Dr. Wei Guangbiao and others’ judgment on the time and place of the origin of steppe mammoths.

The results of Chinese researchers push the origin of the steppe mammoth forward by at least 500,000 years. "Research on mammoths has only achieved preliminary results so far." Dr. Wei Guangbiao told reporters in an interview. His collaborative research with Chinese, Japanese, and European scholars continues to be in-depth.

Mammoth research is centered in Europe

The earliest mammoth originated in southeastern Africa more than 4 million years ago. Mammoths originally lived in tropical and subtropical forest environments. More than 3 million years ago, mammoths spread northward from Africa to Europe and Asia, and finally spread to North America via the Bering Land Bridge.

More than 2 million years ago, the climate in the northern hemisphere suddenly became colder, and the forest environment was gradually replaced by an open grassland environment. In order to adapt to the changed environment, the mammoths in Eurasia experienced the huge size stage of the steppe mammoths, and then became smaller again when they evolved into the woolly mammoth stage.

For more than a century before 2001, the international academic community generally believed that the entire evolutionary process of mammoths from southern elephants to steppe mammoths to the most advanced woolly mammoths was It was completed continuously in Europe, and then spread to Asia and North America with Europe as the center. Most European and American scholars believe that, as the most important intermediate link in the evolution of the Eurasian mammoth lineage, the steppe mammoth originated in Europe about 700,000 years ago.

Adrian M. Lister of College London, UK, is an internationally renowned mammoth fossil researcher. In 2001, he and Andrei V. Sher of the Russian Academy of Sciences published an article in the top international academic journal "Science", proposing that A new point of view is that the steppe mammoth originated in northeastern Siberia, about 1.2 million years ago. This paper overturns the academic view that has been popular in the international academic community for hundreds of years.

The word mammoth originally comes from Russian and was introduced into English after the discovery of mammoth bones in Siberia. Mammoth in Chinese follows the Japanese translation.

Among all mammoths, the steppe mammoth is the largest known. Adult males stand up to 4.5 meters at the shoulder. It is estimated that its weight exceeds 10 tons. Like most other mammoths, the steppe mammoth had a tall, short skull with long incisors twisted in a spiral. The incisors of male steppe mammoths can be up to 5.2 meters long. Like living elephants, the steppe mammoth's incisors were used as weapons in combat, as well as as digging tools to knock down trees, strip bark and break branches.