The logo and mascot of the Spring Festival Gala for the Year of the Rabbit are officially announced! What did the world's earliest rabbit look like?

The Year of the Rabbit is here.

"Rabbit Yuanyuan" is here too!

December 22

China Central Radio and Television Station's "2023 Spring Festival Gala"

Officially released the official logo and mascot image

"Round Rabbit".

Careful netizens may find that

"Rabbit Yuanyuan" is different from ordinary rabbits.

Other people's rabbits all have two upper front teeth.

But "Rabbit Round" has four!

This is the prototype

"Anhui Model Rabbit"

Typical features of the ecological restoration image.

The world's first rabbit

"Anhui Model Rabbit",

It is the earliest rabbit-like animal discovered in the world so far.

The period of their survival was the Early Paleogene, 62 million years ago.

In 1977, in the Qianshan Basin of Anhui Province

Mr. Li Chuankui from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, discovered **** fossils .

And named it Model Pika,

It means an animal similar to a rabbit.

The fossils are now collected in the China Paleozoological Museum.

Anhui Pika fossil

Currently internationally recognized

Anhui Model Rabbit (Model Rabbit)

It is the animal closest to the ancestor of lagomorphs today.

Restoration of Anhui model pika

Li Chuankui and other older generation paleontologists and their research team

After decades of traveling across the mountains and deserts of our motherland,

Fill in the blanks step by step,

This gives our country almost complete fossil evidence of rabbit evolution.

therefore,

The Spring Festival Gala mascot "Rabbit Yuanyuan"

It is not just the zodiac rabbit in the traditional cultural sense.

It is also the "rabbit ancestor" that reflects the scientific spirit of contemporary China.

After me, the rat and rabbit split up

Just look at the name of "Model Rabbit".

You know it is related to rats and rabbits.

Rabbits and mice both have a pair of rootless large incisors.

It's just that rabbits have a pair of small incisors behind their big incisors.

Therefore, rabbits are also called Diprotodonta in classification.

Rodents belong to the order Monoprotodonta.

The two pillar teeth behind the upper incisors

It is one of the important bases for classifying rabbits from the order Rodentia.

Pika on the grassland. Copyright image, no permission to reprint

The upper incisors of the pika are double-layered.

mean

After the Anhui model pika,

The mice and rabbits separated.

The mouse has two front teeth.

Rabbits have four front teeth.

Although they all have four front teeth,

The two small incisors of the Anhui pika are slightly exposed.

The small incisors of modern rabbits are hidden behind the large incisors.

therefore,

In the shape of "Rabbit Round Round",

Four upper front teeth were retained.

Two adults and two children.

In order to highlight the characteristics of rabbits, cartoons usually

I can draw two incisors.

Rabbit, rat, I can't tell them apart

For a long time,

What is the relationship between rabbits and rats?

This is a common headache for scholars.

What we say in daily life

Rabbit is a general term for the order Lagomorpha.

Rats are the largest family in the order Rodentia.

Rats and rabbits are similar in many characteristics.

For example, incisors grow throughout life.

therefore,

At first, people placed these two types of animals in one order.

Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy

Rabbits are classified as a family unit in the order Rodentia.

But there are still many significant differences between them.

In 1912, Gidley formally separated the order Lagomorpha from the order Rodentia.

According to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Since the 1920s,

The zoology community has always believed that mice and rabbits have no systematic relationship.

Rabbits may have descended from even-toed ungulates, ancient ankylosaurs, or hyenas.

Until Anhui Model Rabbit

Found with the Dawn Rat,

This reconfirmed the relationship between mice and rabbits.

Restoration of the Anhui Model Pika (Mimotona wana Li, 1977) and the front part of the skull

1984

Based on actual Chinese materials, Mr. Li Chuankui

The idea of ​​"pika and rabbit are homologous" was proposed.

It was later proposed

East Asia is the origin of rodents and lagomorphs.

It can be seen from this that

Even if the rat and rabbit separated,

Counting countless generations,

We are relatives who live in the same area.

Pika, not a mouse but a rabbit

now,

We can still learn from the pika,

I saw the silhouette of the pika from that year.

The order Lagomorpha only has the families Leporidae and Ochotonidae.

The ears of the pika are short and round.

The tail is hidden in the hair.

It is a type of rabbit that looks like a mouse.

Pikas live in various grasslands, mountain forest edges and bare cliffs.

There are many different varieties.

For example, the Northeast Pika

Copyright image, no permission to reprint

Plateau pika

Copyright image, no permission to reprint

Ili pika, etc.

However,

In some parts of the country,

The pika is often mistaken for a type of mouse.

Some species are even considered "prairie rodents"

And ruthlessly kill.

There are currently less than 1,000 Ili pikas.

It is an endangered species in the world.

Correctly understand the pika,

Scientifically protect the ecology.

It is the best way for us to love rabbits.

Do you like bunnies?

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Source: CCTV.com, Anhui Tianzhushan official public account, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences official website, CCTV News, ScienceNet, China Science Daily, Chinese Academy of Sciences official website, State Forestry and Grassland Administration official website