Tao Deng

Tao Deng
Born June 1963
Yibin, Sichuan Province, China
Nationality Chinese
Fields Vertebrate paleontology, evolution, biostratigraphy
Institutions Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
Alma mater Peking University
Known for Woolly rhinoceros

Tao Deng (born June 1963)[1] is a Chinese palaeontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has made important fossil discoveries on Cenozoic mammals. He is a professor of vertebrate palaeontology, Deputy Director of the Academic Committee, and Deputy Director of Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates at IVPP.

Education

Tao Deng was born in Yibin, Sichuan Province. He studied at Peking University from where he obtained BS in 1984.[1] He completed MS from Southwest Petroleum University in 1994. He obtained PhD from the Northwest University in 1997.[2]

Professional career

Tao Deng works at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology as a researcher and PhD supervisor. His specialization is in the study of mammalian fossils, biostratigraphy, and environmental changes during the Late Cenozoic. Deng currently assumes several positions, including Deputy Director for the Academic Committee of IVPP, and professor of palaeontology at the graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of two technical journals, Vertebrata Palasiatica and Evolution of Life.

Research achievements

Tao Deng has published more than 120 technical papers on palaeontology. He and his team had first major breakthrough in the Zanda Basin, from where they discovered fossil materials of Tibetan wooly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) on 22 August 2007.[3] After painstaking excavation, they unearthed the skull, jaw bone and cervical vertebra of the adult wooly rhinoceros. An analysis through animal group comparison and paleomagnetic test indicated the fossil's geological age to be about 3.7 million years old and in the middle of the Pliocene. Their research eventually lead to indept knowledge of the dramatic rising of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its great impact to evolution of mammals with respect to climate changes. His team reported in 2011 that the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is actually the place of origin of the woolly rhinos during the Pliocene Ice Age, from where they evolved and spread out into other Asian and European regions.[4]

In 2012 he and his team reported the discovery of a 4.6 million-year-old three-toed horse Hipparion zandaense from Tibet.[5] In 2013 they discovered Sinotherium lagrelii from Linxia Basin, a transitional fossil in the lineage of one-horned rhinoceros, tha basis of the unicorn legend in the region;[6][7][8] and a new hornless rhino Aceratherium porpani from Thailand.[9][10][11]

Discrediting forged fossil

Tao Deng was on the news headline around the world for revealing a fossil forgery, Acinonyx kurteni or the Lynxia cheetah. The cheetah was reported in 2009, and was claimed to be the oldest true cheetah species ever discovered.[12][13] Deng was the first to note the unusual fossil description while proofreading the manuscript for publication of the discovery in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. He immediately reported to PNAS that parts of the skull had been concocted from plaster, and that pieces of bones looked like being glued together to create a unique skull.[14][15] However, his objection to publication was rejected as he had no direct examination of the fossil.[16][17] After years of arguments in the scientific community, it was only in 2012 that Deng was allowed access to the original fossil upon invoking the PNAS data access policy, and on examination, his primary suspicions were proven correct, that the fossil was a deliberate fake.[16][18] On 20 August 2012 one of the authors, Ji H. Mazák finally made a retraction in PNAS.[19]

Awards and honours

Tao Deng was awarded with the Chinese national prize for outstanding dissertation in 2000.[1]

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Interview with Dr. Deng Tao". AAAS, the science society. 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  2. ↑ CAS (2013). "Details of the Faculty or Staff: DENG Tao". Chinese Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  3. ↑ Kathy Wren (1 September 2011). "Tibetan Plateau May Have Been A Cold Cradle for Ice Age Giants". AAAS News. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Deng T, Wang X, Fortelius M, Li Q, Wang Y, Tseng ZJ, Takeuchi GT, Saylor JE, Säilä LK, Xie G (2011). "Out of Tibet: Pliocene woolly rhino suggests high-plateau origin of Ice Age megaherbivores". Science 233 (6047): 1285–1288. doi:10.1126/science.1206594. PMID 21885780.
  5. ↑ "Three-toed horses reveal the secret of the Tibetan Plateau uplift". phys.org. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Deng, Tao; Wang, ShiQi; Hou, SuKuan (2012). "A bizarre tandem-horned elasmothere rhino from the Late Miocene of northwestern China and origin of the true elasmothere". Chinese Science Bulletin 58 (15): 1811–1817. doi:10.1007/s11434-012-5574-4.
  7. ↑ "Giant Unicorns Of Ancient China". Before It's News. 22 June 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  8. ↑ "One-horned rhino Elasmotherium 'source of unicorn legend'". ANI News. 22 June 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  9. ↑ Deng, Tao; Hanta, Rattanaphorn; Jintasakul, Pratueng (2013). "A new species of Aceratherium (Rhinocerotidae, Perissodactyla) from the late Miocene of Nakhon Ratchasima, northeastern Thailand". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33 (4): 977–985. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.748058.
  10. ↑ Enrico de Lazaro (1 July 2013). "Aceratherium porpani: New Late Miocene Species of Hornless Rhino from Thailand". sci-news.com. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  11. ↑ "New fossil rhino species confirmed". Bangkok Post. The Post Publishing PCL. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  12. ↑ Christiansen P, Mazák JH (January 13, 2009). "A primitive Late Pliocene cheetah, and evolution of the cheetah lineage". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106 (2): 512–515. doi:10.1073/pnas.0810435106. PMC 2626734. PMID 19114651.
  13. ↑ Randerson, James (December 29, 2008). "Fossilised skull suggests cheetahs evolved in Asia not Americas". The Guardian (London). Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  14. ↑ Cheng Yingqi (6 September 2009). "Counterfeit fossils undermine research projects". China Daily. China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  15. ↑ Knevitt O (9 January 2011). "5 Greatest Palaeontology Fakes Of All Time #5: The Linxia Cheetah". Science 2.0. ION Publications LLC. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  16. 1 2 Ivanoransky (20 August 2012). "Author retracts PNAS paper about alleged Pliocene cheetah fossil that critics said was a fake". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  17. ↑ Rebecca Carroll (29 December 2008). "Ancient Cheetah Fossil Points to Old World Roots?". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  18. ↑ Wang X (2013). "Mortgaging the future of Chinese paleontology". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110 (9): 3201. doi:10.1073/pnas.1301429110. PMC 3587247. PMID 23431183.
  19. ↑ Mazák JH (2012). "Retraction for Christiansen and Mazák, A primitive Late Pliocene cheetah, and evolution of the cheetah lineage". Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 109 (37): 15072. doi:10.1073/pnas.1211510109. PMID 22908293.

External links

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