Age of the Elephant and the Horse (Part Forty-Four)

Twenty million years ago was indeed the golden age of mammals. The Bering Strait land bridge was up, and many groups of animals migrated to North America from Asia, including the four-tusked mastodons, short-legged rhinoceroses, and many varieties of the cat family.rnThe first deer appeared, and North America was soon overrun by ruminants--deer, oxen, camels, bison, and several species of rhinoceroses--but the giant pigs, more than six feet tall, became extinct. The huge elephants of this and subsequent periods possessed large brains as well as large bodies, and they soon overran the entire world except Australia. For once the world was dominated by a huge animal with a brain sufficiently large to enable it to carry on. Confronted by the highly intelligent life of these ages, no animal the size of an elephant could have survived unless it had possessed a brain of large size and superior quality. In intelligence and adaptation, the elephant is approached only by the horse an is surpassed only by man himself. Even so, of the fifty species of elephants in existence at the opening of this period, only two have survived. Around fifteen million years ago, mammalian life continued to evolve. Enormous herds of horses joined the camels on the western plains of North America; this was truly the age of horses as well as elephants. The horse’s brain is next in animal quality to that of the elephant, but in one respect it is decidedly inferior, for the horse never fully overcame the deep-seated propensity to flee when frightened. The horse lacks the emotional control of the elephant, while the elephant is greatly handicapped by size and lack of agility. During this period an animal evolved which was somewhat like both the elephant and the horse, but it was soon destroyed by the rapidly increasing cat family, which was represented by panthers and large saber-tooth tigers. Not only did these cats live during this time, but also the dog family represented by wolves and foxes. The modern cat and dog families did exist during this time period and began to increase in numbers along with weasels, martens, otters, and raccoons developing throughout the northern latitudes. The biologic developments of this period contributed much toward the setting of the stage for the subsequent appearance of man. In central Asia the true types of both the primitive monkey and the gorilla evolved, having a common ancestor, now extinct. But neither of these species had anything to do in the line of living beings which were, later on, to become the ancestors of the human race. So, when one hears we came from the gorilla, while that’s just simply not true. As you continue to read my summaries from the BOOK, you will learn how we came to be. (In Memory of Dad)rnQuote: He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul’s estate. Henry David Thoreau