North American Proboscideans: Mammoths: The state of Knowledge, 2003

Elevated δ15N values in mammoths: a comparison with modern elephants

“…The values in trees are even lower than those in shrubs (Bocherens 2003;Fox-Dobbs et al 2008). Several studies on fossil mammoth dung and on stomach contents of well-preserved mammoths showed that the diet of mammoths consisted predominantly of grass (Ukraintseva 1993;Agenbroad 2005;van Geel et al 2008;Guthrie 1990), the major component of the vegetation of the mammoth steppe. Therefore, it is to be expected that mammoth bones show relative high δ 15 N values.…”

A note on the use of temporal frequency distributions in studies of prehistoric demography

“…First, we examined studies incorporating date lists or frequency distributions involving Pleistocene fauna in time periods preceding human colonization (Agenbroad, 2005;Guthrie, 2003;Meltzer and Mead, 1985;Miller et al, 1999). While animal populations should also grow exponentially, humans are uniquely capable of dramatically increasing carrying capacity by resource intensification and food production.…”

Phylogeographic analysis of the mid-Holocene Mammoth from Qagnaxˆ Cave, St. Paul Island, Alaska

“…However, there are good reasons to believe that sequence data from a closely related species would aid in temporal inferences (Ho and Larson, 2006). Asian elephants and woolly mammoths shared common ancestry roughly 6.7 million years ago (Rohland et al, 2007), while Columbian (Mammuthus columbi) and woolly mammoths likely shared common ancestry approximately 2 million years ago (Agenbroad, 2005). This recent shared ancestry potentially makes Columbian mammoths a more suitable outgroup species for resolving temporal issues within mammoth phylogeny.…”