Unicorn “holotype” skeleton from the Late Pleistocene spotted hyena den site Sewecken‐Berge (Germany)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cajus G. Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Spotted Hyena

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 Late Pleistocene spotted hyena den sites and specialized rhinoceros scavengers in the karstified Zechstein areas of the Thuringian Mountains (Central Germany)

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Cajus Diedrich
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Crocuta Crocuta ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
Central Germany

Abstract. Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss 1823) craniale und postcraniale Elemente wurden in der Pößneck-Region der Zechsteinkarst-Region im Thüringer Wald (Zentral-Deutschland) in historischer Zeit in der Wüsten Scheuer Kleinhöhle/Abri bei Döbritz ausgegraben. An der nahegelegenen Krölpa-Gipskarstfundstelle wurde ein von eiszeitlichen Fleckenhyänen angefressener Kadaver eines Wollnashorns gefunden. Die geringe Anzahl der Megafaunenreste aus der Wüsten Scheuer Höhlung/Abri umfasst angefressene Coelodonta antiquitatis-Reste und wird hier als Kommunalhorst identifiziert. An beiden Horst/Fressplätzen wurden jeweils weitere Beutetierreste angereichert. Diese stammen von einer Kaltzeitfauna (Spätpleistozän) mit seltenen Knochenresten von M. primigenius, vorwiegend C. antiquitatis, E. c. przewalskii, und wenigen B. priscus sowie R. tarandus. Die Dominanz des Wollnashorns, gefolgt vom Bison und Przewlaksi-Pferd, ist typisch für Hyänen-Knochenakkumulationen in europäischen Mittelgebirgen, wo das Mammut aufgrund der Topographie nahezu abwesend war. In den verkarsteten Thüringer Bergen können neun spätpleistozäne Hyänenhorste identifiziert werden. Reine Hyänenhorste finden sich im Zechstein-zeitlichen Gipskarst und den Kalkstein-Karstgebieten von Bad Köstritz, Krölpa sowie den Fuchsluken-Höhlungen bei Saalfeld. In der Wüsten Scheuer treten diese überlagernd mit mittelpaläolithischen Lagerplätzen auf, wie auch in der Ilsenhöhle bei Ranis und der Lindenthaler Hyänenhöhle bei Gera, was auf Konflikte um Beute und Unterkünfte hindeutet. An diesen Höhlenfundplätzen wurden Knochenreste historisch inkorrekt als reine „Neanderthaler-Küchenabfälle“ oder als „Knochenwerkzeuge“ (z.B. „Hohlschaber“ = von Hyänen angefressene Wollnashorn-Tibien) interpretiert.

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 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 Hyena paleogenomes reveal a complex evolutionary history of cross-continental gene flow between spotted and cave hyena

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. eaay0456
Author(s):  
Michael V. Westbury ◽  
Stefanie Hartmann ◽  
Axel Barlow ◽  
Michaela Preick ◽  
Bogdan Ridush ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Evolutionary Relationships ◽  
Spotted Hyena ◽  
High Frequencies ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Complex Evolutionary History

The genus Crocuta (African spotted and Eurasian cave hyenas) includes several closely related extinct and extant lineages. The relationships among these lineages, however, are contentious. Through the generation of population-level paleogenomes from late Pleistocene Eurasian cave hyena and genomes from modern African spotted hyena, we reveal the cross-continental evolutionary relationships between these enigmatic hyena lineages. We find a deep divergence (~2.5 Ma) between African and Eurasian Crocuta populations, suggesting that ancestral Crocuta left Africa around the same time as early Homo. Moreover, we find discordance between nuclear and mitochondrial phylogenies and evidence for bidirectional gene flow between African and Eurasian Crocuta after the lineages split, which may have complicated prior taxonomic classifications. Last, we find a number of introgressed loci that attained high frequencies within the recipient lineage, suggesting some level of adaptive advantage from admixture.

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document