The Muirkirk Mammoth: A Late Pleistocene woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) skeleton from southern Ontario, Canada

Harington, C. R.; Mol, Dick; Plicht, Johannes van der

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.05.038

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…2010). For example, the Muirkirk woolly mammoth skeleton in southern Ontario is associated with tundra‐boreal woodland plant fossils and dates to 14, 050 cal yr BP, shortly after deglaciation in the area (Harington et al. 2012).…”

Section: Mastodon and Mammoth Habitats And Diets In The Great Lakes Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mastodons and Mammoths in the Great Lakes Region, USA and Canada: New Insights into their Diets as they Neared Extinction

Yansa¹,

Adams

2012

Geography Compass

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The conventional image of Ice Age environments of North America includes mammoths feeding on grasses in open tundra or steppe habitats and mastodons browsing on spruce branches in forests. However, re-examination of plant and animal fossil research in the Great Lakes region of the USA and adjacent Ontario, Canada provides new insights into the changing diets of mammoths and mastodons in this region, particularly as these animals neared extinction between 13,500 and 13,000 calendar years Before Present (cal yr BP). This paper reconstructs the following scenario at the end of the Ice Age. Woolly mammoths primarily inhabited tundra adjacent to the northward receding margin of the Laurentide ice sheet. Meanwhile, to the immediate south, Jefferson mammoths grazed on grasses, sedges and herbs around the edges of wetlands, while American mastodons consumed mainly the leaves and branches of spruce and other trees in first an anomalous spruce parkland ⁄ sedge wetland environment and later in spruce-dominated forest. However, mammoth and mastodon populations began to dwindle at a time when the succeeding vegetation became a closed forest with a lesser amount of spruce trees, grasses and sedges and a greater abundance of invading deciduous trees. The last mammoths and mastodons in the Great Lakes region bear signs of stress and competition for the same foods in dense coniferous-deciduous forest, which contributed to the extinction of these magnificent beasts by 13,000 cal yr BP. This extinction event highlights the fragility of mammal populations under stress; an important lesson given that numerous species today are similarly challenged by climate and landscape change.

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Section: Mastodon and Mammoth Habitats And Diets In The Great Lakes Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mastodons and Mammoths in the Great Lakes Region, USA and Canada: New Insights into their Diets as they Neared Extinction

Yansa¹,

Adams

2012

Geography Compass

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“…At least one ulna in the assemblage may have been fully grown with both epiphyses fused before fragmentation, but it is missing its entire distal end; however, the proximal end of the radius has fused to the ulna’s proximal end, which is related to advanced age (Harington et al, 2012, fig. 7), and may occur around the same time the distal epiphyses of radius and ulna fuse to the diaphyses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative study of woolly mammoths from the Gravettian site Kraków Spadzista (Poland), based on estimated shoulder heights, demography, and life conditions

2018

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This article interprets the life conditions of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) from the Upper Paleolithic archaeological site Kraków Spadzista in Poland. We propose that the mammoths’ irregular mortality profile (also known as age profile) was shaped over several decades by major death events, which serially depleted the youngest cohorts. Taphonomic data and comparisons with other Eurasian archaeological and nonarchaeological sites provide context for hypothesizing that the mammoth-bone assemblage was accumulated at least partly through opportunistic human hunting of the most vulnerable animals in mixed herds. Humans exploited heightened mammoth vulnerability during climatic stress periods, killing and butchering most of the animals, although some mammoths in the assemblage may have died from natural causes. The evidence for environmental stress affecting the mammoths includes paleoecological data about local climatic conditions, the abundant signs of mammoth-bone abnormalities in the assemblage, the relatively smaller size of adult female mammoths compared with those from the similarly dated archaeological site Milovice I (Czech Republic), and the unusually high proportion of juvenile mammoths in the assemblage.

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“…Los materiales se compararon con ejemplares seleccionados pertenecientes a las especies Mammuthus meridionalis, M. columbi, M. primigenius y M. trogontherii reportados en la literatura (Maglio, 1973;Dubrovo, 1977;Czyzewska y Wiszniowska, 1982;Pilgram y Western, 1986;Lucas y Effinger, 1991;Gillette y Madsen, 1993;Lucas y González-León, 1996;Morgan et al, 2001;McDaniel y Jefferson, 2003, 2006a, 2006b; García-Zepeda y Garduño-Monroy, 2006;Hodgson et al, 2008;Wei et al, 2010;Álvarez-Lao y Méndez, 2011;Agostini et al, 2012;Albayrak y Lister, 2012;Álvarez-Lao y García, 2012;Athanassiou, 2012;Baygusheva et al, 2012;Harington et al, 2012;Lister et al, 2012;Tong, 2012;Pawlowska et al, 2014). Asimismo, se compararon con elementos de Mammuthus procedentes de la localidad Ingleside, Condado de San Patricio, Pleistoceno tardío de Texas, alojados en el laboratorio de Paleontología de Vertebrados de la Universidad de Texas en Austin; así como con ejemplares alojados en la Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UM) y el Centro Regional Puebla del Instituto de Antropología e Historia (CRINAH).…”

Section: Estudio Anatómico Comparado De Los Ejemplaresunclassified

“…Los análisis estadísticos se realizaron en los programas Past Versión 3.04 (Hammer et al, 2001) y STATISTICA 10.…”

Section: Análisis De Microdesgasteunclassified

“…Los molares superiores (M3) e inferiores (m3) terceros de la muestra estudiada presentan las siguientes características típicas de Mammuthus columbi: (1) molariformes grandes, relativamente angostos, con una anchura entre 75 a 108.5 mm (anchura promedio de los elementos estudiados de alrededor 80 mm); (2) dientes hipsodontes (índice de hipsodoncia comúnmente mayor a 2); (3) grosor del esmalte promedio cercano a 3 mm (grosor del esmalte promedio de la muestra estudiada de http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2020v72n1a141019 DISCUSIÓN 2.8 mm); (4) esmalte fuertemente crenulado; y (5) frecuencia lamelar de 5 a 7 McDaniel y Jefferson, 2006a). En este sentido, los terceros molares (M3/m3) de M. meridionalis se distinguen por ser menos hipsodontes (índice de hipsodoncia ≤ 1), grosor del esmalte que suele ser ≥ 3 mm y tener una menor frecuencia lamelar (4 -5) (Arroyo-Cabrales et al, 2003;McDaniel y Jefferson, 2006a), mientras que los pertenecientes a M. primigenius tienen un grosor del esmalte comúnmente ≤ 2 mm y una mayor frecuencia lamelar (≈ 9) (Harington et al, 2012). La frecuencia lamelar e índice de hipsodoncia de UMPE-022 (M2/M3) (Tabla 3) son cercanos a los del fragmento de un M2 de Mammuthus columbi recuperado de la localidad CRISOBA industrial CEPAMISA al sur de la ciudad de Morelia, Michoacán; sin embargo, este último ejemplar tiene un mayor grosor del esmalte de 3.5 mm (García-Zepeda y Garduño-Monroy, 2006: tabla 1, p. 10).…”

Section: Caracterización Taxonómicaunclassified

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Taxonomía y hábito alimentario de ejemplares de Mammuthus columbi (Proboscidea: Elephantidae) del centro y sur de México

Bravo-Cuevas

Ortiz-Caballero

Jiménez-Hidalgo

et al. 2020

BOL. SOC. GEOL. MEX.

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Paleontological work carried out during the past years in the late Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) localities of Hidalgo, Puebla and Oaxaca states allowed the recovery of an important sample of proboscidean specimens, which consists of skull fragments, teeth, and several postcranial bones, collected from fluviolacustrine sediments. This material was identified as Mammuthus columbi. Based on tooth position and the estimated age in African elephant years, the sample studied represents 15 or 16 individuals; seven or eight from Oaxaca, and at least four from each locality of Puebla and Hidalgo. The best-represented age category is that of mature adults (≥ 30 years), followed by adolescents (3 to 17 years). Lamellar frequency (≤ 5) and enamel width (≥ 2.4 mm) indicate the presence of at least one adult male sexually mature in each of the Mexican states from where the specimens were recovered. On the other hand, the microwear analysis of some of the individuals studied showed a higher number of scratches compared to the pits and a high frequency of wide scratches. This microwear pattern is indicative of a mixed-feeding dietary habit with a high proportion of abrasive resources intake. Indirectly, the mixed-feeder condition of these M. columbi individuals indicates the presence of open areas, probably covered with grasses, bushes and herbs and closed-vegetation areas (with trees), in what now is the southeastern portion of Hidalgo, the Valsequillo basin in Puebla and the Mixteca Alta in Oaxaca during the late Pleistocene.

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The Muirkirk Mammoth: A Late Pleistocene woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) skeleton from southern Ontario, Canada

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

Mastodons and Mammoths in the Great Lakes Region, USA and Canada: New Insights into their Diets as they Neared Extinction

Mastodons and Mammoths in the Great Lakes Region, USA and Canada: New Insights into their Diets as they Neared Extinction

A comparative study of woolly mammoths from the Gravettian site Kraków Spadzista (Poland), based on estimated shoulder heights, demography, and life conditions

Taxonomía y hábito alimentario de ejemplares de Mammuthus columbi (Proboscidea: Elephantidae) del centro y sur de México

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