scholarly journals ‘Neanderthal bone flutes’: simply products of Ice Age spotted hyena scavenging activities on cave bear cubs in European cave bear dens

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 140022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cajus G. Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Cave Bear ◽  
Large Carnivore ◽  
Lower Jaw ◽  
Spotted Hyenas

Punctured extinct cave bear femora were misidentified in southeastern Europe (Hungary/Slovenia) as ‘Palaeolithic bone flutes’ and the ‘oldest Neanderthal instruments’. These are not instruments, nor human made, but products of the most important cave bear scavengers of Europe, hyenas. Late Middle to Late Pleistocene (Mousterian to Gravettian) Ice Age spotted hyenas of Europe occupied mainly cave entrances as dens (communal/cub raising den types), but went deeper for scavenging into cave bear dens, or used in a few cases branches/diagonal shafts (i.e. prey storage den type). In most of those dens, about 20% of adult to 80% of bear cub remains have large carnivore damage. Hyenas left bones in repeating similar tooth mark and crush damage stages, demonstrating a butchering/bone cracking strategy. The femora of subadult cave bears are intermediate in damage patterns, compared to the adult ones, which were fully crushed to pieces. Hyenas produced round–oval puncture marks in cub femora only by the bone-crushing premolar teeth of both upper and lower jaw. The punctures/tooth impact marks are often present on both sides of the shaft of cave bear cub femora and are simply a result of non-breakage of the slightly calcified shaft compacta. All stages of femur puncturing to crushing are demonstrated herein, especially on a large cave bear population from a German cave bear den.

scholarly journals Palaeopopulations of Late Pleistocene Top Predators in Europe: Ice Age Spotted Hyenas and Steppe Lions in Battle and Competition about Prey

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cajus G. Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Crocuta Crocuta ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Cave Bear ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
Modern Analogue ◽  
Spotted Hyenas ◽  
Steppe Bison

Late Pleistocene spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) and steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) were top predators in Central Europe. The fossil record (2.303 hyena/1.373 lion bones = ratio 3/1) from 106 cave and open air sites demonstrates comparable associations to modern African hyenas/lions resulting in competition about prey and territory. Cannibalism within extinct spotted hyenas is well documented, including two individual skeletons. Those hyenas produced bone accumulations at dens. Feeding specializations on different megamammal groups are demonstrated for Late Pleistocene hyenas whose prey partly overlaps (e.g., cave bears) with those of lions and wolves. At most fossil sites, 1–3% of the lion remains indicate scavenging of lions by hyenas. The larger Late Pleistocene felids focussed on cervids (reindeers specialization during the high glacial = LGM), on bovids (steppe bison/aurochs), and possibly on saiga antelope and on the cave bear, hunting deep in caves during their hibernations and targeting cubs. The cave bear feeding was the target of all three top predators (lions, hyenas, and wolves) in the Late Pleistocene boreal forests which caused deathly conflicts in caves between them, especially with lions/hyenas and herbivorous cave bears that have no modern analogue.

scholarly journals Extinctions of Late Ice Age Cave Bears as a Result of Climate/Habitat Change and Large Carnivore Lion/Hyena/Wolf Predation Stress in Europe

ISRN Zoology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cajus G. Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
Ice Age ◽  
Crocuta Crocuta ◽  
Cave Bear ◽  
Large Carnivore ◽  
Wolf Predation ◽  
Top Predators ◽  
Feeding Technique ◽  
Spotted Hyenas ◽  
Inner Organs ◽  
Large Predators

Predation onto cave bears (especially cubs) took place mainly by lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss), as nocturnal hunters deep in the dark caves in hibernation areas. Several cave bear vertebral columns in Sophie’s Cave have large carnivore bite damages. Different cave bear bones are chewed or punctured. Those lets reconstruct carcass decomposition and feeding technique caused only/mainly by Ice Age spotted hyenas Crocuta crocuta spelaea, which are the only of all three predators that crushed finally the long bones. Both large top predators left large tooth puncture marks on the inner side of cave bear vertebral columns, presumably a result of feeding first on their intestines/inner organs. Cave bear hibernation areas, also demonstrated in the Sophie’s Cave, were far from the cave entrances, carefully chosen for protection against the large predators. The predation stress must have increased on the last and larger cave bear populations of U. ingressus (extinct around 25.500 BP) in the mountains as result of disappearing other seasonally in valleys migrating mammoth steppe fauna due to climate change and maximum glacier extensions around 22.000 BP.

Steppe lion remains imported by Ice Age spotted hyenas into the Late Pleistocene Perick Caves hyena den in northern Germany

2009 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cajus G. Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Panthera Leo ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
Nw Germany ◽  
Bone Material ◽  
Upper Pleistocene ◽  
Central European ◽  
Cave Bear ◽  
Spotted Hyenas

AbstractUpper Pleistocene remains of the Ice Age steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) have been found in the Perick Caves, Sauerland Karst, NW Germany. Bones from many hyenas and their imported prey dating from the Lower to Middle Weichselian have also been recovered from the Perick Cave hyena den. These are commonly cracked or exhibit deep chew marks. The absence of lion cub bones, in contrast to hyena and cave bear cub remains in the Perick Caves, and other caves of northern Germany, excludes the possibility that P. leo spelaea used the cave for raising cubs. Only in the Wilhelms Cave was a single skeleton of a cub found in a hyena den. Evidence of the chewing, nibbling and cracking of lion bones and crania must have resulted from the importation and destruction of lion carcasses (4% of the prey fauna). Similar evidence was preserved at other hyena den caves and open air sites in Germany. The bone material from the Perick and other Central European caves points to antagonistic hyena and lion conflicts, similar to clashes of their modern African relatives.

scholarly journals Lion and spotted hyena distributions within a buffer area of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanslaus B. Mwampeta ◽  
Clay M. Wilton ◽  
Imani J. Mkasanga ◽  
Lusato M. Masinde ◽  
Peter S. Ranke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
The South ◽  
Large Carnivore ◽  
Serengeti Ecosystem ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
Spotted Hyenas ◽  
Western Border ◽  
Eastern Border ◽  
June July

AbstractMost large carnivore populations are declining due to anthropogenic activities including direct persecution, prey depletion, habitat loss and degradation. protected areas (PAs) can help maintain viable large carnivore populations; however, anthropogenic activities occurring near and within PA borders or edges can reduce their effectiveness. We investigated the influence of edge effects on abundance of lions (Panthera leo) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in Maswa Game Reserve (MGR), a part of the Serengeti ecosystem in northern Tanzania. We conducted repeated call-ins to attract and enumerate lions and hyenas at 20 stations in MGR during June–July 2017. We used N-mixture models to estimate hyena and lion abundance in relation to land cover and distance from the south-western MGR borders which are adjacent to villages. We found lowest lion and hyena abundances by the south-western border, with abundance of both species increasing toward the eastern border adjacent to Serengeti National Park. Lions were uniformly distributed among land covers whereas hyenas were more abundant in woodlands. We suggest that reduced lion and hyena abundance near human settlements was in response to depleted prey, due to human actions. We recommend ecologically compatible land uses and effective border patrols to mitigate these adverse effects.

Glacial/Interglacial Size Variation in Fossil Spotted Hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) from Britain

1989 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Klein ◽  
Katharine Scott
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Temperature Variation ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Crocuta Crocuta ◽  
Bergmann’S Rule ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Bergmann's Rule ◽  
Spotted Hyenas ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe lower carnassial lengths of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) in 12 late Pleistocene samples from Britain indicate that, on average, local hyenas of the last (Devensian) glaciation were significantly larger than their last-interglaciation (Ipswichian) counterparts. Together with the tendency for spotted hyena carnassial length to increase with latitude in present-day Africa, this suggests that spotted hyena body size is inversely related to temperature, as predicted by Bergmann's rule. The implication is that spotted hyena carnassial length can be used as an independent gauge of Pleistocene temperature variation, though the combined African and British data imply that the relationship between carnassial length and temperature is curvilinear, such that as temperature declines, equal amounts of further decline produce progressively smaller increases in average carnassial length.

scholarly journals Recycling of Badger/Fox Burrows in Late Pleistocene Loess by Hyenas at the Den Site Bad Wildungen-Biedensteg (NW, Germany): Woolly Rhinoceros Killers and Scavengers in a Mammoth Steppe Environment of Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cajus Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Cervus Elaphus ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Large Prey ◽  
Nw Germany ◽  
Faecal Pellets ◽  
Woolly Rhinoceros ◽  
Fish Remains

The Late Pleistocene (MIS 5c-d) Ice Age spotted hyena open air den and bone accumulation site Bad Wildungen-Biedensteg (Hesse, NW, Germany) represents the first open air loess fox/badger den site in Europe, which must have been recycled by Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss, 1823) as a birthing den. Badger and fox remains, plus remains of their prey (mainly hare), have been found within the loess. Hyena remains from that site include parts of cub skeletons which represent 10% of the megafauna bones. Also a commuting den area existed, which was well marked by hyena faecal pellets. Most of the hyena prey bones expose crack, bite, and nibbling marks, especially the most common bones, the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis (NISP  =  32%). The large amount of woolly rhinoceros bones indicate hunting/scavenging specializing on this large prey by hyenas. Other important mammoth steppe hyena prey remains are from Mammuthus primigenius, Equus caballus przewalskii, Bison/Bos, Megaloceros giganteus, Cervus elaphus, and Rangifer tarandus. The few damaged bone remains of a scavenged cave bear Ursus spelaeus subsp. are unique for an open air situation. Abundant micromammal, frog, and some fish remains were concentrated in “pellets” that contain mainly mammoth steppe micromammals and also frog and fish remains that seem to originate from the nearby river/lake.

scholarly journals Lifetime selection on a hypoallometric size trait in the spotted hyena

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1722) ◽  
pp. 3277-3285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli M. Swanson ◽  
Ian Dworkin ◽  
Kay E. Holekamp
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Sexual Size Dimorphism ◽  
Phenotypic Selection ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Large Carnivore ◽  
Relative Paucity ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Spotted Hyenas ◽  
Terrestrial Carnivore

Size-related traits are common targets of natural selection, yet there is a relative paucity of data on selection among mammals, particularly from studies measuring lifetime reproductive success (LRS). We present the first phenotypic selection analysis using LRS on size-related traits in a large terrestrial carnivore, the spotted hyena, which displays a rare pattern of female-biased sexual size dimorphism (SSD). Using path analysis, we investigate the operation of selection to address hypotheses proposed to explain SSD in spotted hyenas. Ideal size measures are elusive, and allometric variation often obfuscates interpretation of size proxies. We adopt a novel approach integrating two common methods of assessing size, and demonstrate lifetime selection on size-related traits that scale hypoallometrically with overall body size. Our data support selection on hypoallometric traits in hyenas, but not on traits exhibiting isometric or hyperallometric scaling relationships, or on commonly used measures of overall body size. Our results represent the first estimate of lifetime selection on a large carnivore, and suggest a possible route for maintenance of female-biased SSD in spotted hyenas. Finally, our results highlight the importance of choosing appropriate measures when estimating animal body size, and suggest caution in interpreting selection on size-related traits as selection on size itself.

Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Southern France ◽  
European Context ◽  
The World ◽  
Cave Art ◽  
Illustrated Book

Cave art is a subject of perennial interest among archaeologists. Until recently it was assumed that it was largely restricted to southern France and northern Iberia, although in recent years new discoveries have demonstrated that it originally had a much wider distribution. The discovery in 2003 of the UK's first examples of cave art, in two caves at Creswell Crags on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, was the most surprising illustration of this. The discoverers (the editors of the book) brought together in 2004 a number of Palaeolithic archaeologists and rock art specialists from across the world to study the Creswell art and debate its significance, and its similarities and contrasts with contemporary Late Pleistocene ("Ice Age") art on the Continent. This comprehensively illustrated book presents the Creswell art itself, the archaeology of the caves and the region, and the wider context of the Upper Palaeolithic era in Britain, as well as a number of up-to-date studies of Palaeolithic cave art in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy which serve to contextualize the British examples.

Emergence of critical climate states during the Pleistocene

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Golledge
Keyword(s):  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Dominant Frequency ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Pleistocene Climate ◽  
System Nodes ◽  
Systems Framework

<p>During the Pleistocene (approximately 2.6 Ma to present) glacial to interglacial climate variability evolved from dominantly 40 kyr cyclicity (Early Pleistocene) to 100 kyr cyclicity (Late Pleistocene to present). Three aspects of this period remain poorly understood: Why did the dominant frequency of climate oscillation change, given that no major changes in orbital forcing occurred? Why are the longer glacial cycles of the Late Pleistocene characterised by a more asymmetric form with abrupt terminations? And how can the Late Pleistocene climate be controlled by 100 kyr cyclicity when astronomical forcings of this frequency are so much weaker than those operating on shorter periods? Here we show that the decreasing frequency and increasing asymmetry that characterise Late Pleistocene ice age cycles both emerge naturally in dynamical systems in response to increasing system complexity, with collapse events (terminations) occuring only once a critical state has been reached. Using insights from network theory we propose that evolution to a state of criticality involves progressive coupling between climate system 'nodes', which ultimately allows any component of the climate system to trigger a globally synchronous termination. We propose that the climate state is synchronised at the 100 kyr frequency, rather than at shorter periods, because eccentricity-driven insolation variability controls mean temperature change globally, whereas shorter-period astronomical forcings only affect the spatial pattern of thermal forcing and thus do not favour global synchronisation. This dynamical systems framework extends and complements existing theories by accomodating the differing mechanistic interpretations of previous studies without conflict.</p>

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