From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox.
The 'third pole' of the world is a fitting metaphor for the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, in allusion to its vast frozen terrain, rivalling the Arctic and Antarctic, at high altitude but low latitude. Living Tibetan and arctic mammals share adaptations to freezing temperatures such as long an...
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Online Access: | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8m65x614 https://escholarship.org/content/qt8m65x614/qt8m65x614.pdf https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0893 |
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt8m65x614 2024-09-15T17:41:21+00:00 From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox. Wang, Xiaoming Tseng, Zhijie Jack Li, Qiang Takeuchi, Gary T Xie, Guangpu 20140893 2014-07-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8m65x614 https://escholarship.org/content/qt8m65x614/qt8m65x614.pdf https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0893 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt8m65x614 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8m65x614 https://escholarship.org/content/qt8m65x614/qt8m65x614.pdf doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0893 public Proceedings. Biological sciences, vol 281, iss 1787 Mandible Tooth Animals Foxes Geography Fossils Arctic Regions Tibet Biological Evolution Canidae Himalaya Pliocene arctic fox zoogeography Biological Sciences Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences Medical and Health Sciences article 2014 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0893 2024-06-28T06:28:18Z The 'third pole' of the world is a fitting metaphor for the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, in allusion to its vast frozen terrain, rivalling the Arctic and Antarctic, at high altitude but low latitude. Living Tibetan and arctic mammals share adaptations to freezing temperatures such as long and thick winter fur in arctic muskox and Tibetan yak, and for carnivorans, a more predatory niche. Here, we report, to our knowledge, the first evolutionary link between an Early Pliocene (3.60-5.08 Myr ago) fox, Vulpes qiuzhudingi new species, from the Himalaya (Zanda Basin) and Kunlun Mountain (Kunlun Pass Basin) and the modern arctic fox Vulpes lagopus in the polar region. A highly hypercarnivorous dentition of the new fox bears a striking resemblance to that of V. lagopus and substantially predates the previous oldest records of the arctic fox by 3-4 Myr. The low latitude, high-altitude Tibetan Plateau is separated from the nearest modern arctic fox geographical range by at least 2000 km. The apparent connection between an ancestral high-elevation species and its modern polar descendant is consistent with our 'Out-of-Tibet' hypothesis postulating that high-altitude Tibet was a training ground for cold-environment adaptations well before the start of the Ice Age. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Fox Arctic muskox North Pole Vulpes lagopus University of California: eScholarship Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281 1787 20140893 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Mandible Tooth Animals Foxes Geography Fossils Arctic Regions Tibet Biological Evolution Canidae Himalaya Pliocene arctic fox zoogeography Biological Sciences Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences Medical and Health Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Mandible Tooth Animals Foxes Geography Fossils Arctic Regions Tibet Biological Evolution Canidae Himalaya Pliocene arctic fox zoogeography Biological Sciences Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences Medical and Health Sciences Wang, Xiaoming Tseng, Zhijie Jack Li, Qiang Takeuchi, Gary T Xie, Guangpu From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox. |
topic_facet |
Mandible Tooth Animals Foxes Geography Fossils Arctic Regions Tibet Biological Evolution Canidae Himalaya Pliocene arctic fox zoogeography Biological Sciences Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences Medical and Health Sciences |
description |
The 'third pole' of the world is a fitting metaphor for the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau, in allusion to its vast frozen terrain, rivalling the Arctic and Antarctic, at high altitude but low latitude. Living Tibetan and arctic mammals share adaptations to freezing temperatures such as long and thick winter fur in arctic muskox and Tibetan yak, and for carnivorans, a more predatory niche. Here, we report, to our knowledge, the first evolutionary link between an Early Pliocene (3.60-5.08 Myr ago) fox, Vulpes qiuzhudingi new species, from the Himalaya (Zanda Basin) and Kunlun Mountain (Kunlun Pass Basin) and the modern arctic fox Vulpes lagopus in the polar region. A highly hypercarnivorous dentition of the new fox bears a striking resemblance to that of V. lagopus and substantially predates the previous oldest records of the arctic fox by 3-4 Myr. The low latitude, high-altitude Tibetan Plateau is separated from the nearest modern arctic fox geographical range by at least 2000 km. The apparent connection between an ancestral high-elevation species and its modern polar descendant is consistent with our 'Out-of-Tibet' hypothesis postulating that high-altitude Tibet was a training ground for cold-environment adaptations well before the start of the Ice Age. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wang, Xiaoming Tseng, Zhijie Jack Li, Qiang Takeuchi, Gary T Xie, Guangpu |
author_facet |
Wang, Xiaoming Tseng, Zhijie Jack Li, Qiang Takeuchi, Gary T Xie, Guangpu |
author_sort |
Wang, Xiaoming |
title |
From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox. |
title_short |
From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox. |
title_full |
From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox. |
title_fullStr |
From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox. |
title_full_unstemmed |
From 'third pole' to north pole: a Himalayan origin for the arctic fox. |
title_sort |
from 'third pole' to north pole: a himalayan origin for the arctic fox. |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8m65x614 https://escholarship.org/content/qt8m65x614/qt8m65x614.pdf https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0893 |
op_coverage |
20140893 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Fox Arctic muskox North Pole Vulpes lagopus |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Fox Arctic muskox North Pole Vulpes lagopus |
op_source |
Proceedings. Biological sciences, vol 281, iss 1787 |
op_relation |
qt8m65x614 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8m65x614 https://escholarship.org/content/qt8m65x614/qt8m65x614.pdf doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0893 |
op_rights |
public |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0893 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
281 |
container_issue |
1787 |
container_start_page |
20140893 |
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1810487506793136128 |