Upon the
whole, however, the evidence is against this view. Not only is
there great difficulty in supposing that the Arctic conditions of
the Glacial period were immediately followed by anything warmer
than a cold-temperate climate; but there is nothing in the nature
of the Mammals themselves which would absolutely forbid their
living in a temperate climate. The _Hippopotamus major_, though
probably clad in hair, offers some difficulty--since, as pointed
out by Professor Busk, it must have required a climate sufficiently
warm to insure that the rivers were not frozen over in the winter;
but it was probably a migratory animal, and its occurrence may
be accounted for by this. The Woolly Rhinoceros and the Mammoth
are known with certainty to have been protected with a thick
covering of wool and hair; and their extension northwards need
not necessarily have been limited by anything except the absence of
a sufficiently luxuriant vegetation to afford them food. The great
American Mastodon, though not certainly known to have possessed a
hairy covering, has been shown to have lived upon the shoots of
Spruce and Firs, trees characteristic of temperate regions--as
shown by the undigested food which has been found with its skeleton,
occupying the place of the stomach. The Lions and Hyaenas, again,
as shown by Professor Boyd Dawkins, do not indicate necessarily
a warm climate.
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