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2017 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

6. Ancient Feeding Ecology and Niche Differentiation of Pleistocene Horses

Authors : José Luis Prado, María Teresa Alberdi

Published in: Fossil Horses of South America

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Carbon isotopes provide key data for understanding the ecology of extinct horses during the Plio-Pleistocene in South America. Hippidion and Equus had very different diets. This flexibility in their diet and by extension in their occupied biome is in agreement with hypothesis that generalists and open biome specialists from North America experienced a successful radiation throughout South America. The autopodial elements are better predictors of body mass in horses. Evolutionary history of horses was strongly influenced by environmental conditions and kind of substrates.

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Title: Ancient Feeding Ecology and Niche Differentiation of Pleistocene Horses
Authors: José Luis Prado
María Teresa Alberdi
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Fossil Horses of South America
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-55876-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-55877-6

Copyright Year: 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55877-6_6