Inter-Regional Comparisons on the Quaternary Large Mammalian Faunas between China and Sub-Saharan Africa |
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| Authors: | TONG Haowen HU Nan LIU Jinyi and Ronald CLARKE |
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| Institution: | 1 Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; 2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; 3 Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa,1 Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; 2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; 3 Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa,1 Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; 2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; 3 Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa and 1 Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; 2 Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; 3 Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | The current and dominant theory about the origin of modern humans is the out-of-Africa hypothesis, which asserts that populations of Homo sapiens left Africa 100,000 years ago and replaced indigenous populations of humans in Eurasia. Many scholars equated the out-of-Africa dispersal of humans with paleoenvironmental changes. However, until now, few have paid special attention to the faunal data and whether or not faunal patterns are supportive of the popular theory. Recent comparative study of the Chinese fauna shows that the communication of faunas between Africa and East Asia could have occurred during the Neogene, but it was very limited during the Pleistocene. In the Chinese Quaternary fauna, only 16% of the genera are also present in the sub-Saharan African fauna. There is also no element among the dominant taxa of the Chinese Quaternary fauna which can be related to the African fauna. There is no reliable proof for the existence of Hippopotamus and Giraffa, as well as Panthera leo, during the Quaternary in China. Two controversial taxa are Acinonyx and Crocuta, about which there is still argument concerning their species identification in Eurasia. It is possible that both of the genera have co-specific taxa in Africa and Eurasia. Although the two genera are confined to Africa today, they did have a long evolutionary history in China. For the Out of Africa hypothesis for Homo sapiens, the implications of the limited faunal interchanges between China and Africa are not completely clear yet. |
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| Keywords: | large mammals faunal comparisons Quaternary out of Africa theory Sub-Saharan Africa China |
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