Sexual dimorphism and ontogenetic variation in the skull of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller) of the European Upper Pleistocene

Grandal-d’Anglade, Aurora; López-González, Fernando

doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2003.12.001

Cited by 29 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Canines from the Krapina rockshelter in Croatia were attributed to males, having breadth greater than 17 mm and length greater than 23 mm (Miracle, 2011). Modes and extent of the development of sexual dimorphism can vary in different populations of cave bear (Grandal dAnglade & López-González, 2005).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) from Chamber B of the Goyet Cave in Belgium

Baryshnikov¹,

Germonpré²,

Baryshnikova³

2011

Rus.J.Theriol.

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ABSTRACT. The morphometric characteristic of skulls and cheek teeth is given for the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) from the Late Pleistocene cave locality Goyet (Chamber B) in Belgium. The sexual distribution of the adult skulls shows them to belong to females; at the same time, data on the upper canines demonstrates approximately equal number of males and females. The gender analysis of the lower canines reveals almost double predominance of females against males. The study of the canine dimensions indicates that males were nearly 30% as large as females, which markedly exceeds the difference in size between genders in the brown bear (U. arctos). The mortality profile demonstrates prevalence of young and old individuals. Measurements of cheek teeth in the young and subadult bears exceed, on the average, those in adults, suggesting that predominantly males died in the younger age groups. The analysis of cheek teeth from the Goyet Cave reveals peculiarity of the sample in upper teeth P4 and M2, which resemble in the parameters those of the dentally less specialized ancestral species U. deningeri. This peculiarity may be explained by the diet of U. spelaeus in this region situated near the Pleistocene Ice Sheet, where poor vegetation provoked more consumption of animal food, probably shortly before entering hibernation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) from Chamber B of the Goyet Cave in Belgium

Baryshnikov¹,

Germonpré²,

Baryshnikova³

2011

Rus.J.Theriol.

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“…In contrast, mammalian taxa that are more monogamous exhibit minimally dimorphic body forms between the sexes including some cases where the females may be only slightly larger than the male (Estes 1991: 11, 44;Weckerly 1998: 38). The polygyny-dimorphism correlation has been described across a wide variety of mammalian taxa including carnivores (Grandal-D'Anglade and Lopez-Gonzalez 2005;Szuma 2007), primates (Alexander et al 1979;Clutton-Brock 1991;Clutton-Brock et al 1977;Martin et al 1994), and ungulates (Alexander et al 1979;Loison et al 1999;Perez-Barberia and Gordon 1999;Perez-Barberia et al 2002;Weckerly 1998).…”

Section: Sexual Dimorphismmentioning

confidence: 99%

A zooarchaeological investigation into the meat industry established at the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Heinrich

2012

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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The Dutch East India Company (VOC) established their settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 in order to refresh passing trade ships with fresh water, vegetables, and meat in hopes of lessening disease and death during the long voyages around the tip of Africa between Europe and the Far East. The great demand for meat provided an impetus for Dutch-Khoehoe interactions which ultimately drained the Khoekhoe of their wealth, land, and identity. Currently, with the exception of the terrestrial faunal from Oudepost I (Cruz-Uribe and Schrire 1991), historic period faunal analyses at the Cape have been very localized, superficially descriptive, and taphonomically flawed, which has ii lead to very little understanding of the overall colonial meat market and included some implausible interpretations.This thesis takes into account contextual evidence, applies zooarchaeological methodology, and incorporates actualistically-based research into taphonomic traces on bone surfaces and to better reconstruct the originally deposited samples. The investigation of the VOC's meat industry that was emplaced at the Cape is carried out through the investigation of five faunal samples including three sites from the Castle of Good Hope; the Moat, the Granary (F2), and Donkergat (DKG); Elsenburg; and the Dump from Oudespost I. The systemic approach provides information about livestock production, slaughter, and consumption at the Cape with information about large scale slaughter for local markets or trade ship provisioning. This thesis describes the transplanted European husbandry practices as the VOC overcame initial hardships of meeting high meat demands to become the dominant power across the landscape.iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would foremost like to thank Carmel Schrire for sharing her guidance and critical mind, while also having great patience throughout the research and writing of this dissertation. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee, Robert Blumenschine, Robert Scott, and David Landon (University of Massachusetts-Boston), for helpful critiques and advice. I would like to additionally thank Robert Blumenschine for his instruction in faunal analysis and taphonomy. I would like to thank Royden Yates, Graham Avery, Margaret Avery and LalouMeltzer who were instrumental in helping me gain access and navigate the IZIKO: South African Museum, especially Graham Avery for working alongside me to help identify various bones and the birds. Thanks are also extended to the faculty at the University of Cape Town's Archaeology Department for allowing me access to various faunal assemblages kept in their store rooms. I also appreciate the help from Richard Klein (Stanford University) who had helped me with some bone specimens in addition to reviewing some portions of this work. I would also like to thank Eileen Westwig at the American Museum of Natural History for providing access to their Mammalogy Collections.Funding for this research has been obtained from Special Opportunity Award, Bigel Grants, the Center for Human Evoluti...

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“…The Old World cave bear Ursus spelaeus received particular attention, too. Generally interpreted as herbivorous based on craniodental morphology (Kurtén 1995;Grandal-d'Anglade and López-González 2005) and isotopic analyses (Bocherens et al 2006), it appears to show omnivorous morphological adaptations typical of the genus Ursus (Figueirido et al 2009;Meloro 2011b). Van Heteren et al (2014 suggested that cave bear included more foliage in its diet as compared to extant brown bears (Ursus arctos).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elbow Joint Geometry in Bears (Ursidae, Carnivora): a Tool to Infer Paleobiology and Functional Adaptations of Quaternary Fossils

Meloro

Oliveira

2017

J Mammal Evol

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Bears are currently represented by eight species among Carnivora. Being all particularly large and generally plantigrade limits to certain extent their functional morphology so that inferences about their past diversification are difficult to achieve. We analyzed variation in bears' elbow joint size and shape to reconstruct paleobiology of Quaternary fossil species. By using 2D geometric morphometrics, we were able to discriminate with high degree of accuracy species, locomotor and habitat adaptations among extant bears. The giant panda and the spectacled bear are well characterized by an enlarged medial epicondyle, while large members of the genus Ursus can be distinguished by their relatively longer and wider trochlea. Elbow joint size varies consistently among ecological categories of extant bears and is generally selected by discriminant function models providing a high degree of classification accuracy (> 80%). American genera Arctotherium and Arctodus are predicted as non-climbing species potentially adapted to open and mixed environments in agreement with their potentially opportunistic feeding behavior. They retain a wide medial epicondyle probably in relation to a high degree of forelimb dexterity. Cave bears are equally predicted as non-climbers adapted to open habitats while the middle Pleistocene Ursus deningeri and fossil Ursus arctos are generally classified as scansorial species with a preference towards mixed habitats. Our study is the first to demonstrate that fragmentary distal epiphyses also can be useful for interpreting functional morphology and ecological adaptations within the family Ursidae.

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Sexual dimorphism and ontogenetic variation in the skull of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus Rosenmüller) of the European Upper Pleistocene

Cited by 29 publications

References 14 publications

Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) from Chamber B of the Goyet Cave in Belgium

Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) from Chamber B of the Goyet Cave in Belgium

A zooarchaeological investigation into the meat industry established at the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Elbow Joint Geometry in Bears (Ursidae, Carnivora): a Tool to Infer Paleobiology and Functional Adaptations of Quaternary Fossils

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