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Mammalian evolution

Isolationist tendencies

Nature volume 426, pages 509–511 (2003)Cite this article

For some 40 million years, the Afro-Arabian landmass existed in splendid isolation. A newly described fossil fauna from the end of that time provides a window on the evolution of the continent's large mammals.

During most of the Cenozoic era, from the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary 65 million years ago until roughly 24 million years ago, Afro-Arabia was an island continent drifting steadily northwards towards Eurasia1. Fossil mammals documenting this period are scarce and belong almost exclusively to endemic forms restricted to Afro-Arabia, such as proboscideans2, hyraxes3 and elephant-shrews. But by around 24 million years ago, a permanent land bridge had formed between the two landmasses4. A burst of faunal interchange followed: many Eurasian mammals, such as rhinos and ruminants, dispersed into Africa, and some Afro-Arabian mammals, such as elephants, migrated in the opposite direction.

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  1. Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Université Montpellier II, CC64, Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier, 34095, France

    Jean-Jacques Jaeger

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  1. Jean-Jacques Jaeger
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Jaeger, JJ. Isolationist tendencies. Nature 426, 509–511 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/426509a

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