Climate change in the teeth of elephants

2000/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

The study of the teeth of a former elephant relative has given researchers traces of climate change that occurred thousands of years ago. Elephant blades often have rings similar to tree trunks, which grow infrequently in prosperous times and accumulate very closely times of hunger.

The four-tooth Gomphotherium elephant, which lived between 15 and 5 million years ago, indicates that the fossil teeth between 15 and 12 million years lived in a stable climate. The weather varied little according to the seasons. However, the teeth of descendants have signs of climate change. Climate variability led to the growth of scrub and grass, reducing elephant leaf feeding and tooth growth.