Paleaeoecology and Palaeoenvironments of Late Cenozoic Mammals

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(2 Timothy 2:15) KJV

Our copy of “Paleaeoecology and Palaeoenvironments of Late Cenozoic Mammals” came to us back in 1999 when we were living in the woods beside Jordan Lake in Chatham County, NC.

We would park our 1973 Chevy truck under a pine tree and hang a mosquito net from a branch to sleep under. We were beginning to teach ourselves Biblical Hebrew thanks to the haul of books we got from University Presbyterian Church when they cleared out their library.

Part of the problem we ran into was finding an English-Hebrew dictionary. Everyone we spoke to only had Hebrew-English. Luckily a great thing about Chapel Hill in the 90s was that there were some really good used book stores. We found a 4-Volume International Standard Bible Encyclopedia which had Hebrew spelling listed next to the English words. It was a step in the right direction. The set was $80 and we were homeless with two child support payments so we had to put it on layaway and paid $20 every two weeks on payday.

The bookshop where we found our ISBE was where we also found Paleaeoecology and Palaeoenvironments of Late Cenozoic Mammals. We can’t remember how much it was, but we found this article while standing in the book store so we knew we had to buy it.

ABSTRACT

Analysis of skulls and mandibles of Equus simplicidens… shows peaks in one-year increments of tooth eruption indicating peak periods of seasonal breeding. The ratio of adult females to males and the presence of juveniles suggests that E. simplicidens had a Type 1 herd structure consisting of a polygamous harem with a single dominant male. Since a wide range of age classes is represented in the sample, the Hagerman Horse Quarry probably formed as the result of a single catastrophic event rather than a gradual accumulation as previously thought. That this event may have taken place at the beginning of the foaling season is suggested by the small number of newborn individuals and those less than a few weeks old. If the seasonal birth of E. simplicidens coincided with the wet winter season, then the Hagerman Horse Quarry sample may represent a single catastrophic accumulation, perhaps part of a herd that was killed by trying to cross a river at high-water or flood stage.

H. Gregory McDonald, Population structure of the late Pliocene (Blancan) zebra Equus simplicidens (Perissodactyla: Equidae) from the Hagerman Horse Quarry, Idaho. In Kathlyn M. Stewart and Kevin L. Seymour, Palaeoecology and Palaeoenvironments of Late Cenozoic Mammals

---

Since a wide range of age classes is represented in the sample, the Hagerman Horse Quarry probably formed as the result of a single catastrophic event rather than a gradual accumulation as previously thought.

---

---