Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau Influenced the Morphological Evolution of Animals

This is a review of the results reported by studies on the impact of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on the body size, external organs, auditory organ and sexual dimorphism of animals. In high-altitude areas, strong selection pressures, such as low temperature, oxygen deficit, high frequency of strong winds, long periods of animal inactivity, and food shortages, have led to reduction in animal size, variations in the sizes of external organs, atrophy or degradation of auditory organs and increased sexual dimorphism. These evolutionary morphological changes along a gradient in the altitude are determined by differential energy distribution in the organisms.