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62-750: C. hyodon Cuvieronius is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere which ranged from southern North America to western South America during the Pleistocene epoch. Among the last gomphotheres, it became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago, following the arrival of humans to the Americas. † Gomphotherium † Gnathabelodon † Eubelodon † Stegomastodon † Sinomastodon † Notiomastodon † Rhynchotherium † Cuvieronius The species now known as Cuvieronius hyodon

124-655: A North American gomphothere genus known from the Late Miocene and Pliocene. The oldest remains attributed to the genus from the Blancan are very fragmentary, and may belong to Rhynchotherium instead. The oldest unambiguous records of the genus in North America date to 1.4 million years ago (Ma). Cuvieronius was extirpated from its northern range in North America over the course of the Irvingtonian after

186-529: A continent in that southern part; full of animals and more populous than our Europe, or Asia, or Africa, and even more temperate and pleasant than any other region known to us. Vespucci's letter was a publishing sensation in Europe that was immediately and repeatedly reprinted in several other countries. Peter Martyr, who had been writing and circulating private letters commenting on Columbus's discoveries since 1493, often shares credit with Vespucci for designating

248-627: A group of Brazilian mammalogists, many sites in South America referred to Cuvieronius actually refer to Notiomastodon , with many previous studies simply labeling fossils one or the other depending on location, with only localities definitely identified as Cuvieronius , the range now extends in the high Andes from Ecuador in the north, to Bolivia in the south, with the localities in the southern Andes in Chile and Argentina now thought to belong to Notiomastodon . The same group maintains that all

310-584: A large open ocean between China on the east side of the map, and the inchoate largely water-surrounded North American and South American discoveries on the western side of map. Out of uncertainty, they depicted a finger of the Asian land mass stretching across the top to the eastern edge of the map, suggesting it carried over into the western hemisphere. E.g. the Cantino Planisphere denotes Greenland as "Punta d'Asia"—"edge of Asia". Some maps, e.g.,

372-618: A new continent . This realization expanded the geographical horizon of earlier European geographers, who had thought that the world only included Afro-Eurasian lands. Africa , Asia , and Europe became collectively called the " Old World " of the Eastern Hemisphere , while the Americas were then referred to as "the fourth part of the world", or the "New World". Antarctica and Oceania are considered neither Old World nor New World lands, since they were only discovered by Europeans much later. They were associated instead with

434-404: A sufficient period, and actions are taken to restore the original plant communities. Management to reduce deer populations has a three-method approach: (1) large areas of contiguous old forest with closed canopies are set aside, (2) predator populations are increased, and (3) hunting of the overabundant herbivore is increased. Encouragement of tree recovery by promoting seed sources of native trees

496-461: Is a danger of permanent depletion of the supply. Animals in captivity may be fed browse as a replacement for their wild food sources; in the case of pandas, the browse may consist of bunches of banana leaves, bamboo shoots, slender pine, spruce, fir and willow branches, straw and native grasses. If the population of browsers grows too high, all of the browse that they can reach may be devoured. The resulting level below which few or no leaves are found

558-493: Is an important aspect of managing recovery from overbrowsing. Refugia in the form of windthrow mounds, rocky outcrops, or horizontal logs elevated above the forest floor can provide plants with substrate protected from browsing by cervids. These refugia can contain a proportion of the plant community that would exist without browsing pressure, and may differ significantly from the flora found in nearby browsed areas. If management efforts were to reduce cervid populations in

620-497: Is known as browse and is in nature taken directly from the plant, though owners of livestock such as goats and deer may cut twigs or branches for feeding to their stock. In temperate regions, owners take browse before leaf fall, then dry and store it as a winter feed supplement. In time of drought, herdsmen may cut branches from beyond the reach of their stock, as forage at ground level. In the tropical regions, where population pressure leads owners to resort to this more often, there

682-469: Is known as the browse line . If over-browsing continues for too long, the ability of the ecosystem's trees to reproduce may be impaired, as young plants cannot survive long enough to grow too tall for browsers to reach. Overbrowsing occurs when overpopulated or densely-concentrated herbivores exert extreme pressure on plants, reducing the carrying capacity and altering the ecological functions of their habitat. Examples of overbrowsing herbivores around

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744-477: Is now named South America, that same map famously labels simply " America ". Martin Waldseemüller 's map of 1516 retreats considerably from his earlier map and back to classical authority, with the Asian land mass merging into North America, which he now calls Terra de Cuba Asie partis , and quietly drops the "America" label from South America, calling it merely Terra incognita . The western coast of

806-634: The Terra Australis that had been posited as a hypothetical southern continent. All of the New World countries use the Latin script as its official script. The Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci is usually credited for coming up with the term "New World" ( Mundus Novus ) for the Americas in his 1503 letter, giving it its popular cachet, although similar terms had been used and applied before him. The Venetian explorer Alvise Cadamosto used

868-606: The Gulf of Paria implied that a previously unknown continent must lie behind it. Columbus proposes that the South American landmass is not a "fourth" continent, but rather the terrestrial paradise of Biblical tradition, a land allegedly known, but undiscovered, by Christendom . In another letter to the nurse of Prince John, written 1500, Columbus refers to having reached a "new heavens and world" ("nuevo cielo é mundo") and that he had placed "another world" ("otro mundo") under

930-576: The West Indies with what returning sailors told him of the East Indies . Vespucci wrote a preliminary letter to Lorenzo, while anchored at Bezeguiche, which he sent back with the Portuguese fleet, which expressed a certain puzzlement about his conversations. Vespucci ultimately was convinced while on his mapping expedition of eastern Brazil from 1501 to 1502. After returning from Brazil in

992-951: The guava , papaya and pineapple . There are rare instances of overlap, e.g., the calabash (bottle-gourd), cotton , and yam are believed to have been domesticated separately in both the Old and New World, or their early forms possibly brought along by Paleo-Indians from Asia during the last glacial period . [REDACTED] Africa [REDACTED] Antarctica [REDACTED] Asia [REDACTED] Australia [REDACTED] Europe [REDACTED] North America [REDACTED] South America [REDACTED] Afro-Eurasia [REDACTED] Americas [REDACTED] Eurasia [REDACTED] Oceania [REDACTED] Africa [REDACTED] Eurasia [REDACTED] North America [REDACTED] Oceania [REDACTED] South America Browsing (herbivory) The plant material eaten

1054-523: The invading species . In other cases, populations of herbivores exceed historic levels due to reduced hunting or predation pressure. For example, carnivores declined in North America throughout the 19th century and hunting regulations became stricter, contributing to increased cervid populations across North America. Also, landscape changes due to human development, such as in agriculture and forestry, can produce fragmented forest patches between which deer travel, browsing in early successional habitat at

1116-520: The turkey were originally domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples in Mesoamerica . Agriculturalists in the Andean region of South America brought forth the cassava , peanut , potato , quinoa and domesticated animals like the alpaca , guinea pig and llama . Other New World crops include the sweetpotato , cashew , cocoa , rubber , sunflower , tobacco , and vanilla , and fruits like

1178-553: The "discoverer of the new globe" ("Colonus ille novi orbis repertor"). A year later, on 20 October 1494, Peter Martyr again refers to the marvels of the New Globe ("Novo Orbe") and the " Western Hemisphere " ("ab occidente hemisphero"). In Columbus's 1499 letter to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, reporting the results of his third voyage, he relates how the massive waters of South America's Orinoco delta rushing into

1240-480: The 1506 Contarini–Rosselli map and the 1508 Johannes Ruysch map, bowing to Ptolemaic authority and Columbus's assertions, have the northern Asian landmass stretching well into the western hemisphere and merging with known North America, Labrador, Newfoundland, etc. These maps place the island of Japan near Cuba and leave the South American continent—Vespucci's "New World" proper—detached and floating below by itself. The Waldseemüller map of 1507, which accompanied

1302-511: The Americas , which occurred several thousand years prior. At the El Fin del Mundo kill site in Sonora, Mexico, remains of an individual of Cuvierionius and another indeterminate gomphothere were found associated with Clovis spear points , suggesting that hunting may have played a role in its extinction. The site was initially suggested to date to 13,390 years Before Present , however this date

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1364-419: The Americas as a new world. Peter Martyr used the term Orbe Novo , meaning "New Globe", in the title of his history of the discovery of the Americas, which began appearing in 1511. The Vespucci passage above applied the "New World" label to merely the continental landmass of South America . At the time, most of the continent of North America was not yet discovered, and Vespucci's comments did not eliminate

1426-591: The Americas remained unclear. That there must be a large ocean between Asia and the Americas was implied by the known existence of vast continuous sea along the coasts of East Asia . Given the size of the Earth as calculated by Eratosthenes this left a large space between Asia and the newly discovered lands. Even prior to Vespucci, several maps, e.g. the Cantino planisphere of 1502 and the Canerio map of 1504, placed

1488-445: The Americas until they were introduced by post-Columbian contact in the 1490s. Many common crops were originally domesticated in the Americas before they spread worldwide after Columbian contact, and are still often referred to as " New World crops ". Common beans ( phaseolus ), maize , and squash —the " three sisters "—as well as the avocado , tomato , and wide varieties of capsicum ( bell pepper , chili pepper , etc.), and

1550-770: The Americas, to distinguish them from their counterparts in the "Old World" (Europe, Africa and Asia)—e.g., New World monkeys , New World vultures , New World warblers . The label is also often used in agriculture. Asia, Africa, and Europe share a common agricultural history stemming from the Neolithic Revolution , and the same domesticated plants and animals spread through these three continents thousands of years ago, making them largely indistinct and useful to classify together as "Old World". Common Old World crops, e.g., barley , lentils , oats , peas , rye , wheat , and domesticated animals, e.g., cattle , chickens , goats , horses , pigs , sheep , did not exist in

1612-528: The Atlantic coast of North America in what is present-day Canada and the United States . The term "New World" is still commonly employed when discussing historic spaces, particularly the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the subsequent European colonization of the Americas . It has been framed as being problematic for applying a colonial perspective of discovery and not doing justice to either

1674-487: The Indies "), and consequently came up with alternative names to refer to them. Only a few weeks after Columbus's return from his first voyage, Martyr wrote letters referring to Columbus's discovered lands as the "western antipodes" ("antipodibus occiduis", letter of 14 May 1493), the "new hemisphere of the earth" ("novo terrarum hemisphaerio", 13 September 1493). In a letter dated 1 November 1493, he refers to Columbus as

1736-534: The New World, including the Pacific Ocean , was discovered in 1513 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa , twenty years after Columbus' initial voyage. It was a few more years before the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan 's between 1519 and 1522 determined that the Pacific Ocean definitely formed a single large body of water that separates Asia from the Americas. Several years later, the Pacific Coast of North America

1798-510: The South American specimens represent the single species C. hyodon. By the end of the Pleistocene , the northern limit of the range of Cuvieronius was in Mexico and Central Texas. Remains found near the town of Hockley in Texas near Houston , which date to around 24,000 years Before Present (BP), are the most recent findings north of Mexico. Cuvieronius was extirpated from South America by

1860-531: The apex of a singular stem. This means that a deer may eat all the reproductive and photosynthetic tissues at once, reducing the plant's height, photosynthetic capabilities, and reproductive output. This is one example of how overbrowsing can lead to the loss of reproductive individuals in a population, and a lack of recruitment of young plants. Plants also differ in their palatability to herbivores. At high densities of herbivores, plants that are highly selected as browse may be missing small and large individuals from

1922-669: The arrival of mammoths in North America around 1.3 Ma, presumably due to competitive exclusion by mammoths as well as mastodons , with its last records in Florida dating to around 500,000 years ago, but persisted in southern North America (including Mexico) and Central America until the very end of the Pleistocene. During the Great American Interchange , Cuvieronius and a relative, Notiomastodon , dispersed into South America. Cuvieronius apparently reached South America considerably later than Notiomastodon , with

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1984-1241: The availability of leaves for photosynthesis and flowers for pollination. Overbrowsing can lead to a decrease in seed production, hinder the recruitment of new individuals and alter the genetic diversity of plant population. Overbrowsing can change near-ground forest structure, plant species composition , vegetation density, and leaf litter , with consequences for other forest-dwelling animals. Many species of ground-dwelling invertebrates rely on near-ground vegetation cover and leaf litter layers for habitat; these invertebrates may be lost from areas with intense browsing. Further, preferential selection of certain plant species by herbivores can impact invertebrates closely associated with those plants. Migratory forest-dwelling songbirds depend on dense understory vegetation for nesting and foraging habitat; reductions in understory plant biomass caused by deer can lead to declines in forest songbird populations. Finally, loss of understory plant diversity associated with ungulate overbrowsing can impact small mammals that rely on this vegetation for cover and food. Overbrowsing can lead plant communities towards equilibrium states which are only reversible if herbivore numbers are greatly reduced for

2046-554: The chief of the navigation of Spain. Although the proceedings of the Toro-Burgos conferences are missing, it is almost certain that Vespucci articulated his recent 'New World' thesis to his fellow navigators there. During these conferences, Spanish officials seem to have accepted that the Antilles and the known stretch of Central America were not the Indies as they had hoped. Though Columbus still insisted they were. They set out

2108-511: The diet of Cuvieronius probably included fruit, and that it was likely an important seed disperser of a variety of Neotropical plants with large fleshy fruits similar to those consumed by large animals in Africa, but which lack effective living native seed dispersers, which they described as " Pleistocene anachronisms ". Cuvieronius initially evolved in North America. It is considered closely related to, if not derived from , Rhynchotherium ,

2170-750: The differential palatability of plants to the overabundant herbivore, as well as the variable ability of plants to tolerate high levels of browsing. The heights of plants preferred by herbivores can give indications of the local and regional herbivore density. Compositional and structural changes in forest vegetation can have cascading effects on the entire ecosystem , including impacts on soil quality and stability, micro- and macro- invertebrates , small mammals, songbirds, and perhaps even large predators. There are several causes of overabundant herbivores and subsequent overbrowsing. Herbivores are introduced to landscapes in which native plants have not evolved to withstand browsing, and predators have not adapted to hunt

2232-534: The dominion of the Kings of Spain. The term "New World" ( Mundus Novus ) was coined in Spring 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci in a letter written to his friend and former patron Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici , which was published in Latin ) in 1503–04 under the title Mundus Novus . Vespucci's letter contains the first explicit articulation in print of the hypothesis that the lands discovered by European navigators to

2294-498: The end of the Late Pleistocene, with its youngest dates on the continent being around 44,000 years ago, before the arrival of people. Curiveronius became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 12,000 years ago as part of the end-Pleistocene extinction event , simultaneously alongside most other large animals across the Americas. The extinction of Cuvieronius and other megafauna postdates human arrival in

2356-422: The famous Cosmographiae Introductio volume, which includes reprints of Vespucci's letters, comes closest to modernity by placing a completely open sea, with no stretching land fingers, between Asia on the eastern side and the New World. It is represented two times in the same map in a different way: with and without a sea passage in the middle of what is now named Central America on the western side—which, on what

2418-420: The historic or geographic complexity of the world. It is argued that both 'worlds' and the age of Western colonialism rather entered a new stage, as in the ' modern world '. In wine terminology , "New World" uses a particular definition. " New World wines " include not only North American and South American wines, but also those from South Africa , Australia , New Zealand , and all other locations outside

2480-610: The lower jaw shortened (brevirostrine). The third molars typically had 4 to 4.5 lophs/lophids, with some specimens having 5 lophs/lophids, with relatively simple crowns. The limb bones are very robust, even compared to other gomphotheres, likely corresponding with its relatively low body mass. Cuvieronius is suggested to have been a generalist mixed feeder that consumed a wide range of plant resources, including grasses and browse . Costa Rican C. hyodon were specialised forest inhabitants that primarily fed on C 3 plants. In 1982, Daniel H. Janzen and Paul Schultz Martin suggested that

2542-474: The name Cuvieronius in honour of Cuvier . However, by the 1930s, general agreement had shifted to regard both forms as representing a single, geographically widespread species, with Cuvieronius humboldtii considered to be the correct name. During the 1950s, the nomenclature of this species became increasingly tangled, as various scientists regarded the type species of the genus Cuvieronius to be Fischer's first published name Mastotherium hyodon , rather than

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2604-464: The names. The species level taxonomy of Cuvieronius is confused. historically, several species were recognised, typically C. tropicus and C. hyodon for North and South American remains, respectively, but recent scholarship suggests that there is only a single valid species, C. hyodon. Alive, specimens typically stood about 2.3 m (7 ft 7 in) tall at the shoulder, and weighed about 3.5 tonnes (3.4 long tons; 3.9 short tons). The skull

2666-402: The new genus Mastotherium as M. hyodon and M. humboldtii . The idea of two distinct species continued to be accepted into the 20th century, usually using Cuvier's names, though Fischer's names were older. In 1923, Henry Fairfield Osborn recognized that these species were distinct from Mastodon , and assigned each to its own new genus, Cuvieronius humboldtii and Cordillerion andium, with

2728-441: The new goal for Spanish explorers: find a sea passage or strait through the Americas, a path to Asia proper. The term New World was not universally accepted, entering English only relatively late, and has more recently been subject to criticism . While it became generally accepted after Amerigo Vespucci that Christopher Columbus ' discoveries were not Asia but a "New World", the geographic relationship between Europe and

2790-531: The oldest possible date being 760,000 ±30,000 years ago and the oldest confirmed date being 304,000 ±54,000 years ago, and had a much more restricted range, confined mostly to the Andes. In North America, Cuvieronius is known from the Southern United States, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, as well as Mexico. It was also widespread across Central America. According to

2852-400: The opinion of the ancients was, that the greater part of the world beyond the equinoctial line to the south was not land, but only sea, which they have called the Atlantic; and even if they have affirmed that any continent is there, they have given many reasons for denying it is inhabited. But this opinion is false, and entirely opposed to the truth. My last voyage has proved it, for I have found

2914-548: The originally designated Mastodon humboldtii . This situation went unaddressed until 2009, when Spencer Lucas petitioned the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to officially change the type species of Cuvieronius to M. hyodon as had been followed for over 50 years by that time, rather than abandoning the well-known Cuvieronius as a synonym. In 2011, Opinion 2276 of the ICZN ruled to conserve

2976-457: The periphery. Agricultural fields and young silvicultural stands provide deer with high quality food leading to overabundance and increased browsing pressure on forest understory plants. Overbrowsing impacts plants at individual, population, and community levels. The negative effects of browsing are greater among intolerant species, such as members of the genus Trillium , which have all photosynthetic tissues and reproductive organs at

3038-550: The population. At the community level, intense browsing by deer in forests leads to reductions in the abundance of palatable understory herbaceous shrubs, and increases in graminoid and bryophyte abundance which are released from competition for light. The intensity of browsing pressure often varies depending on the palatability of plant species to herbivores. Some plant species may be heavily browsed due to their high palatability, while others may be avoided or less affected. Browsing can affect plant reproduction by reducing

3100-462: The possibility that the islands of the Antilles discovered earlier by Christopher Columbus might still be the eastern edges of Asia, as Columbus continued to insist until his death in 1506. A 1504 globe , possibly created by Leonardo da Vinci , depicts the New World as only South America , excluding North America and Central America . A conference of navigators known as Junta de Navegantes

3162-675: The spring of 1503, Vespucci authored the Mundus Novus letter in Lisbon and sent it to Lorenzo in Florence , with the famous opening paragraph: In passed days I wrote very fully to you of my return from new countries, which have been found and explored with the ships, at the cost and by the command of this Most Serene King of Portugal; and it is lawful to call it a new world, because none of these countries were known to our ancestors and to all who hear about them they will be entirely new. For

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3224-404: The teeth into two species, which he referred to as the "mastodonte des cordilières" and the "mastodonte humboldtien", in an 1806 paper. It was not until 1824 that Cuvier formally named the species. He referred both to the genus Mastodon , calling them M. andium and M. humboldtii . Unknown to Cuvier, Fischer had, in 1814, already named the two species based on Cuvier's original description, in

3286-518: The term "un altro mondo" ("another world") to refer to sub-Saharan Africa , which he explored in 1455 and 1456 on behalf of the Portuguese. This was merely a literary flourish, not a suggestion of a new "fourth" part of the world. Cadamosto was aware that sub-Saharan Africa was part of the African continent. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera , an Italian chronicler at the service of Spain , doubted Christopher Columbus 's claims to have reached East Asia ("

3348-561: The traditional wine-growing regions of Europe, North Africa and the Near East . The usefulness of these terms for wines though have been questioned as arbitrary and too generalized. In a biological context, species can be divided into those in the Old World ( Palearctic , Afrotropic ) and those in the New World ( Nearctic , Neotropic ). Biological taxonomists often attach the "New World" label to groups of species found exclusively in

3410-475: The watering stop at Bezeguiche in present-day Dakar , Senegal , as Vespucci was on his expedition to chart the coast of newly discovered Brazil and the ships of the Second Portuguese India armada , commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral , were returning from India . Having already visited the Americas in prior years, Vespucci likely found it difficult to reconcile what he had already seen in

3472-489: The west were not the edges of Asia, as asserted by Christopher Columbus , but rather an entirely different continent that represented a "New World". According to Mundus Novus , Vespucci realized that he was in a "New World" on 17 August 1501 as he arrived in Brazil and compared the nature and people of the place with what Portuguese sailors told him about Asia . A chance meeting between two different expeditions occurred at

3534-532: The world include koalas in Southern Australia, introduced mammals in New Zealand, and cervids in forests of North America and Europe. Moose exclosures (fenced-off areas) are used to determine the ecological impacts of cervids , allowing scientists to compare flora, fauna, and soil in areas inside and outside of exclosures. Changes in plant communities in response to herbivory reflect

3596-588: Was among the first fossil animals from the New World to be studied. The first remains of this species were recovered from Ecuador by Alexander von Humboldt , at a location the local population referred to as the "Field of Giants". Humboldt recognized that, rather than being bones of giant humans as had been thought by the local population and previous Spanish colonists, they were similar to the giant elephants ( Mastodon ) being described from Ohio . Humboldt sent teeth that he had collected from Mexico, Ecuador, and Chile to French anatomist Georges Cuvier , who classified

3658-461: Was assembled by the Spanish monarchs at Toro in 1505 and continued at Burgos in 1508 to digest all existing information about the Indies, come to an agreement on what had been discovered, and set out the future goals of Spanish exploration. Amerigo Vespucci attended both conferences, and seems to have had an outsized influence on them—at Burgos, he ended up being appointed the first piloto mayor ,

3720-567: Was later contested, and the site may be younger than this. [REDACTED] New World The term " New World " is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth 's Western Hemisphere , particularly the Americas . The term arose in the early 16th century during Europe 's Age of Discovery , after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published the Latin -language pamphlet Mundus Novus , presenting his conclusion that these lands (soon called America based on Amerigo's name ) constitute

3782-487: Was mapped. The discovery of the Bering Straits in the early 18th century, established that Asia and North America were not connected by land. But some European maps of the 16th century, including the 1533 Johannes Schöner globe , still continued to depict North America as connected by a land bridge to Asia. In 1524, the term "New World" was used by Giovanni da Verrazzano in a record of his voyage that year along

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3844-462: Was relatively long and low-vaulted. The upper tusks were straight to slightly curved, and had a spiral shaped-enamel band, and reached considerable size, with tusks in the region of 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) in length and weights in excess of 50 kilograms (110 lb). The lower tusks present in more primitive gomphotheres were vestigial in Cuvieronius, being only present in young juveniles, and

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