Extinct Fox Species With Supersharp Teeth Discovered in Tibet
The discovery of the ancient, sharp-toothed predator may support the theory that many polar carnivores originated in Tibet.
An extinct species of "very carnivorous" fox with supersharp teeth once roamed the frigid Tibetan Plateau, a new study says.
The fossils of the newly identified Vulpes qiuzhudingi, which lived 3.60 to 5.08 million years ago, in the Pliocene period, are the oldest arctic fox remains ever found. That could make them the earliest known ancestor of today's arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), which ranges throughout the northern poles. (Also see "Arctic Foxes Put Eggs in 'Cold Storage' for Lean Times.")
The discovery also supports the "out of Tibet" theory, which argues that the plateau acted as a "third Pole" where cold-adapted predators lived until they migrated to new lands at the beginning of the Ice Age.
Between 2006 and 2012, scientists
