Utilization and Skeletal Disturbances of North American Prey Carcasses

Haynes, Gary

doi:10.14430/arctic2325

Cited by 190 publications

(162 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…scavengers. Other possible explanations for the limited evidence of carnivore gnawing are a predominance of winter kills and/or high prey abundance (Haynes, 1982(Haynes, , 1983; however, these alternatives seem unlikely because in the region today caribou carcasses are converted into broad scatters of gnawed and shattered bones within several years of death. Some of these bones may persist for decades on the ground surface, but they persist as gnawed fragments, and this is not the condition of the majority of Pleistocene bones we find.…”

Section: Taphonomic Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival

Mann

Groves

Kunz

et al. 2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Groves, Pamela; Kunz, Michael L.; Reanier, Richard E.; and Gaglioti, Benjamin V., "Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival" (2013 a b s t r a c tRadical restructuring of the terrestrial, large mammal fauna living in arctic Alaska occurred between 14,000 and 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. Steppe bison, horse, and woolly mammoth became extinct, moose and humans invaded, while muskox and caribou persisted. The ice age megafauna was more diverse in species and possibly contained 6Â more individual animals than live in the region today. Megafaunal biomass during the last ice age may have been 30Â greater than present. Horse was the dominant species in terms of number of individuals. Lions, short-faced bears, wolves, and possibly grizzly bears comprised the predator/scavenger guild. The youngest mammoth so far discovered lived ca 13,800 years ago, while horses and bison persisted on the North Slope until at least 12,500 years ago during the Younger Dryas cold interval. The first people arrived on the North Slope ca 13,500 years ago. Bone-isotope measurements and foot-loading characteristics suggest megafaunal niches were segregated along a moisture gradient, with the surviving species (muskox and caribou) utilizing the warmer and moister portions of the vegetation mosaic. As the ice age ended, the moisture gradient shifted and eliminated habitats utilized by the dryland, grazing species (bison, horse, mammoth). The proximate cause for this change was regional paludification, the spread of organic soil horizons and peat. End-Pleistocene extinctions in arctic Alaska represent local, not global extinctions since the megafaunal species lost there persisted to later times elsewhere. Hunting seems unlikely as the cause of these extinctions, but it cannot be ruled out as the final blow to megafaunal populations that were already functionally extinct by the time humans arrived in the region.

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Section: Taphonomic Pathwaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival

Mann

Groves

Kunz

et al. 2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…showing that the animal died at some time after the beginning of September and at the latest before April or May (Legge and Rowley-Conwy 1988,31), at all events within the colder half of the year. The majority of bones show signs of carnivore gnawing and the skeleton may most plausibly be interpreted as the remains of a winter wolf kill (Haynes 1982). It is not suggested that man is in any way connected with the death of the elk.…”

Section: Miesenheim I1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocarbon Dates From the Oxford Ams System: Archaeometry Datelist 16

Hedges¹,

Housley²,

Ramsey³

et al. 1993

Archaeometry

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“…Bones and hide are believed to be a very important component of the Wolverine's winter economy (Banci 1994;Haynes 1982). Cache-sites appear to be closely frequented until the nutritive value is exhausted, judging from the well-used system of trails and tracks of varying ages in the vicinity of such sites.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolverine, <em>Gulo gulo luscus</em>, Resting Sites and Caching Behavior in the Boreal Forest

Wright¹,

Ernst²

2004

Can Field Nat

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Wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) caches and resting sites were examined in a study area in the boreal upland forests of northwestern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia (approximately 57°N). Cache sites were in climax, or "overmature" stands of Black Spruce (Picea mariana) or mixed-wood of high complexity, dominated by conifers, and in which the Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides) and Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera) component consisted of mostly dead or dying trees characteristic of such old growth in the boreal uplands. Sites offered relatively good visibility of the surrounding stand. Sites were never located in the dense to extremely dense homogenous spruce stands documented as being favored for travel by Wolverines in the study area. The better used cache complexes were accessed by numerous well-used trails made by the Wolverines themselves. Caches consisted of the bones, hide and hair of Moose (Alces alces) believed to have been killed by Grey Wolves (Canis lupus). Caches were classified as "simple caches" composed of a single feeding site and/or excavation and "cache complexes" involving one or more feeding "stations", latrines, resting sites, and climbing trees that may have been used as avenues of escape from competitors/predators. Resting sites were located atop the snow in relatively open locations that offered good visibility of the surroundings. Climax stands were implicated as being of importance to Wolverine caching behavior. Conservation implications include the detrimental effect on Wolverine populations likely to result from current timber harvesting practices in the boreal forest.

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Utilization and Skeletal Disturbances of North American Prey Carcasses

Cited by 190 publications

References 14 publications

Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival

Ice-age megafauna in Arctic Alaska: extinction, invasion, survival

Radiocarbon Dates From the Oxford Ams System: Archaeometry Datelist 16

Wolverine, <em>Gulo gulo luscus</em>, Resting Sites and Caching Behavior in the Boreal Forest

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