The diet and environment of mammoths in North-East Russia reconstructed from the contents of their feces

Kirillova, Irina; Argant, Jacqueline; Лаптева, Е. Г.; Korona, O. M.; Plicht, van der Johannes; Zinovyev, Evgeniy; Kotov, Alexey A.; Чернова, О. Ф.; Fadeeva, E. O.; Батурина, О. А.; Kabilov, Мarsel R.; Shidlovskiy, Fedor K.; Занина, О. Г.

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.002

Cited by 51 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The woolly mammoth M. primigenius was a grass‐dominated feeder but even it shows significant variation in its dietary signal, illustrated especially in the steppe–tundra environment of the Lea Valley, where the mesowear signal indicates a significant component of herb or shrub browse in the diet. Stomach contents from preserved carcasses from Siberia mostly demonstrate grass‐dominated diets but some individuals had eaten significant amounts of browse (herbs, willows and mosses) (van Geel et al ., ; Willerslev et al ., ; Kirillova et al ., ). Moreover, microwear analyses of Alaskan woolly mammoths indicate grass‐dominated mixed‐feeding rather than strictly grazing diet (Rivals et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Dental mesowear reflects local vegetation and niche separation in Pleistocene proboscideans from Britain

Saarinen

Lister

2016

J Quaternary Science

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Proboscideans, and elephants in particular, played a key role in Pleistocene mammal communities in Europe. The British Pleistocene fossil record provides a unique opportunity to study changes in proboscidean feeding ecology associated with environmental proxy data such as pollen records and the presence of competitors. Here we utilize a recently introduced dietary analysis method, mesowear angle analysis, for studying relationships between dietary variation in proboscideans, changes in available vegetation and the presence of sympatric proboscidean species. The method is based on recording the relief of worn molar surfaces as angle measurements, which reflect attrition‐ vs. abrasion‐dominated feeding and serve as a proxy for grazing vs. browsing diets. By comparison with pollen records, we show that blunt mesowear angles specifically reflect grass eating rather than open‐ground feeding in general. We further find that all British Pleistocene proboscidean species were relatively flexible feeders able to shift their dietary preference according to local vegetation composition. Nonetheless, when more than one proboscidean species occurred in the same environment, they always show significantly different mean mesowear signal, suggesting dietary niche separation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Dental mesowear reflects local vegetation and niche separation in Pleistocene proboscideans from Britain

Saarinen

Lister

2016

J Quaternary Science

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“…There are cases of transport of a 180 kg Brahman bull by a 41 kg female in a sloppy rocky terrain (Sunquist and Sunquist, 2002: 309e310), or a jaguar dragging an adult horse for over 800 m, or a 270 kg mare for 131 m (Hoogesteijn and Mondolfi, 1992: 73,;Scognamillo et al, 2002). There are even evidences of transport of prey to caves (Hoogesteijn and Mondolfi, 1992;Lewis, 1997; Aquino Mondrag on, 2013). Jaguars kill a variety of large prey, including crocodiles (Caiman crocodilus), tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) and large domestic animals (Crawshaw and Quigley, 2002;Dalponte, 2002;Hoogesteijn et al, 2002;Kuroiwa and Ascorra, 2002;Núñez et al, 2002;Polisar, 2002).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its wide mouth is exposed to the West. It is world famous due to the exceptional preservation of Late Pleistocene remains, including faeces and soft tissues (Emperaire and Laming, 1954;Bird, 1988; Barnosky and Lindsey, 2010;Borrero and Martin, 2012a), an unusual circumstance (Neustroev, 2012;Kirillova et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cueva del Milodón. The hunting grounds of the Patagonian panther

Martin

2018

Quaternary International

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“…Mammoths had specific food niche in relation to other large herbivores of "mammoth fauna": graminoids (cyperaceous and cereals), for the most part (Geel et al, 2011;Kirillova et al, 2015), and forbs (Willerslev et al, 2014). In addition, this conclusion is based on studies of the isotopic composition of different mammoth' remains, particularly the variations in carbon (d 13 C) and nitrogen (d 15 N) isotopes (Bocherens, 2003;Drucker et al, 2015;Wibing et al, 2015).…”

Section: Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mammoths were forced to feed on plants growing in more wet biotopes, which contained fewer amounts of nutrients and minerals than food plants from drier biotopes (Ukraintseva, 1991;Zimov et al, 2012). The changes in the food source are one of the decisive factors that caused the range contraction of this large herbivorous mammoth (Kirillova et al, 2015). According to Leshchinskiy (Leshchinskiy, 2015), at the end of the Pleistocene, mammoth experienced a powerful geochemical stress which would manifest as mass destructive changes of bones due to enzootic diseases caused by mineral deficiency.…”

Section: Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Eurasian mammoth distribution during the second half of the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene: Regional aspects

Puzachenko

Маркова

Косинцев

et al. 2017

Quaternary International

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a b s t r a c tBased on geographic information (database PALEOFAUNA), in combination with 14 C and other methods of paleo dating (1584 localities, 4033 dates, including 1501 direct dates), we first examined details of changes of mammoth distribution in Eurasia on the whole and in single parts of the range over the last 50ky. The analysis of regional features in the dynamics of mammoth range and the quantity of dated localities acknowledged a leading role of the climatic (environmental) factor in these processes. The maximum size of the Eurasian range, the largest number of remains of mammoths from dated localities and, probably, the maximum total number of population were established for the range of 38.2 e8.6 cal ky BP (Denekamp interstadial ¼ Bryansk interstadial). In Western and Central Europe, the increase of population was observed during Huneborg stadial (40.8e38.2 cal ky BP). In eastern Siberia, the maximum population growth occurred in the Last Glacial Maximum (28.6e22.5 cal ky BP), and in Western Siberia e during Deglaciation (22.5e14.7 cal ky BP). The population dynamics at the periphery of the range (Islands of Japan, British Isles, Northern Europe, Southern Siberia and Northern China, and, but to lesser extent, South-Eastern Europe) differs from the dynamics of its main part. The southernmost parts of the range e Southern Siberia and southeastern Europe experienced similar changes. Population dynamics in the Iberian Peninsula was much alike the changes in Western and Central Europe. We suggested that some peripheral populations could periodically be isolated from the populations of the main part of the range. Direct calibrated radiocarbon dates fixed upper boundary of extinction of this species in different parts of range within time interval from 21 (the Iberian Peninsula) to 4 (northeastern Siberia) thousands years BP. The hypotheses about the causes of the dynamics of the area and population of the mammoth in Eurasia, including those related to the extinction of certain genetic lines of a mammoth in the Late Pleistocene, are being discussed.

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The diet and environment of mammoths in North-East Russia reconstructed from the contents of their feces

Cited by 51 publications

References 37 publications

Dental mesowear reflects local vegetation and niche separation in Pleistocene proboscideans from Britain

Dental mesowear reflects local vegetation and niche separation in Pleistocene proboscideans from Britain

Cueva del Milodón. The hunting grounds of the Patagonian panther

The Eurasian mammoth distribution during the second half of the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene: Regional aspects

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