At present only five species of rhinoceros surrive in the world, among which three in Asia No wild rhinoceros has been found alive in East Asia now But many recent evidences reveal the fact that rhinoceros still liv...At present only five species of rhinoceros surrive in the world, among which three in Asia No wild rhinoceros has been found alive in East Asia now But many recent evidences reveal the fact that rhinoceros still lived not very long ago in the East Asian Continent of Holocene The attention to East Asia rhinoceros in Holocene first arose from archaeological studies on ancient ruins in China Archaeologists first found some subfossil skeletons of rhinoceros in ruins of Yin Dynasty in Anyang of Henan in the 1930s Then more skeletons of rhinoceros were found in many other Neolithic Ages runis, such as in Tonghai (Yunnan), Nanning (Guangxi), Xichuan (Henan), Yuyao (Zhejiang), and Haian (Jiangsu).(Guangxi Archaeological Team 1972; Jia 1977; Wu 1983; Huang and Liang 1984; Xu 1990). Moreover, Zhou Benxiong reported some rhinoceros teeth containing residual organic matter found in caves in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River According to a number of very now skeletons of rhinoceros found in some caves in Central China and South China, Yang Zhongjian drew the inferences that rhinoceros might live in the Southern part of China until in the Han Dynasty (about 2000 yrs B P ) at least These discoveries provided the material evidences for the distribution of rhinoceros in East Asian Continent Recently, some scholars brought forward more new information about Chinese rhinoceros from the analysis of historical records and investigations of unearthed cultural relics respectively (Wen and He 1981; Sun 1982). Based on the above materials and informations, this paper is going to deal with the species of rhinoceros once living in East Asia from the viewpoint of zoo geography At last, we brouhgt up the evolution process of the rhinoceros in distribution in Asia with comprehensive analysis of physiographical elements and human activities展开更多
文摘At present only five species of rhinoceros surrive in the world, among which three in Asia No wild rhinoceros has been found alive in East Asia now But many recent evidences reveal the fact that rhinoceros still lived not very long ago in the East Asian Continent of Holocene The attention to East Asia rhinoceros in Holocene first arose from archaeological studies on ancient ruins in China Archaeologists first found some subfossil skeletons of rhinoceros in ruins of Yin Dynasty in Anyang of Henan in the 1930s Then more skeletons of rhinoceros were found in many other Neolithic Ages runis, such as in Tonghai (Yunnan), Nanning (Guangxi), Xichuan (Henan), Yuyao (Zhejiang), and Haian (Jiangsu).(Guangxi Archaeological Team 1972; Jia 1977; Wu 1983; Huang and Liang 1984; Xu 1990). Moreover, Zhou Benxiong reported some rhinoceros teeth containing residual organic matter found in caves in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River According to a number of very now skeletons of rhinoceros found in some caves in Central China and South China, Yang Zhongjian drew the inferences that rhinoceros might live in the Southern part of China until in the Han Dynasty (about 2000 yrs B P ) at least These discoveries provided the material evidences for the distribution of rhinoceros in East Asian Continent Recently, some scholars brought forward more new information about Chinese rhinoceros from the analysis of historical records and investigations of unearthed cultural relics respectively (Wen and He 1981; Sun 1982). Based on the above materials and informations, this paper is going to deal with the species of rhinoceros once living in East Asia from the viewpoint of zoo geography At last, we brouhgt up the evolution process of the rhinoceros in distribution in Asia with comprehensive analysis of physiographical elements and human activities
