Testing Equid Body Mass Estimate Equations on Modern Zebras—With
ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 26 February 2021 doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.622412 Testing Equid Body Mass Estimate Equations on Modern Zebras—With Implications to Understanding the Relationship of Body Size, Diet, and Habitats of Equus in the Pleistocene of Europe Juha Saarinen 1*, Omar Cirilli 2,3, Flavia Strani 4, Keiko Meshida 5 and Raymond L. Bernor 5,6 1 Division of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2 Dottorato di Ricerca in Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy, 3 Paleo[Fab]Lab, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, Italy, 4 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, PaleoFactory, “Sapienza – Università di Roma”, Roma, Italy, 5 Laboratory of Evolutionary Biology, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Washington, DC, United States, 6 Human Origins Program, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States Edited by: Michel Laurin, UMR7207 Centre de recherche sur la The monodactyl horses of the genus Equus originated in North America during the paléobiodiversité et les Pliocene, and from the beginning of the Pleistocene, they have been an essential part of paléoenvironnements (CR2P), France the large ungulate communities of Europe, North America and Africa. Understanding how Reviewed by: body size of Equus species evolved and varied in relation to changes in environments and Tyler Faith, The University of Utah, United States diet thus forms an important part of understanding the dynamics of ungulate body size Manuel F. G. Weinkauf, variation in relation to Pleistocene paleoenvironmental changes. Here we test previously Charles University, Czechia published body mass estimation equations for the family Equidae by investigating how *Correspondence: Juha Saarinen accurately different skeletal and dental measurements estimate the mean body mass juha.saarinen@helsinki.fi (and body mass range) reported for extant Grevy’s zebra (Equus grevyi) and Burchell’s zebra (Equus quagga).
[Show full text]