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How did chalicotheres evolved exactly?
Topic Started: Oct 6 2009, 08:57 AM (365 Views)
Carlos
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Being sloth like browsers in a clade of cursorial ungulates I'd think someone would have noticed something fishy going on, and yet obviously no one did.

I don't know the exact position of chalicotheres on Perissodactyla, but they usually tend to be placed next to horses and brontotheres, but I might just be wrong; I have no idea if they turned out as being basal perissodactyls or rhino and tapir relatives. It would make sense if they were basal members of Perissodactyla, since they could have branched off before cursoriality evolved. If however they are aligned to either horses or rhinos/tapirs then they would have secondarily have lost cursoriality, given how both the earliest members of both linages were cursorial.

This question puzzles me because of the consequences it has. If cursorial Hyracotherium like mammals managed to produce sloth like forms, what would prevent modern small cursorial mammals like chevrotains or canines from producing forms that echo the long gone chalicotheres?
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

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Scrublord
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Chevrotains. . .maybe. Canines. . .BIG NO!
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Carlos
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True, though they have the advantage of NOT HAVING HOOVES. Then again, chalico-hyrax for the win!
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

My Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/Carliro

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