rancho la brea
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2022 ◽  
pp. 159-184
Author(s):  
LESLIE F. MARCUS ◽  
RAINER BERGER

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261915
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Leandro Tomassini ◽  
María Dolores Pesquero ◽  
Mariana Carolina Garrone ◽  
María Dolores Marin-Monfort ◽  
Ignacio Alejandro Cerda ◽  
...  

Rancho La Brea (California, USA) is the most emblematic Quaternary fossiliferous locality in the world, since both the high number and diversity of the specimens recovered and their excellent preservational quality. In the last decades, paleobiological and paleoecological knowledge of the different groups of mammals from this site has increased notably; however, some aspects have not yet been inquired or there is little information. In this work we provide information on one of the most abundant mammals of this site, the equid Equus occidentalis, based on the study, from osteohistological and histotaphonomic perspectives, of thin sections of different limb bones. On the one hand, from an osteohistological viewpoint, we observe that the distribution and characterization of bone tissues in the different skeletal elements are, in general lines, similar to that mentioned for other extant and extinct equids. Cyclical growth marks allowed us to propose preliminary skeletochronological interpretations. On the other hand, from a taphonomic viewpoint, we note that all the samples reflect an excellent preservation of the bone microstructure, slightly altered by different pre- and post-burial processes. The variations recorded evidence different taphonomic history and preservation conditions among pits. This is the first study including fossil material from Rancho La Brea exclusively based on the analysis of the bone microstructure features.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mairin A. Balisi ◽  
Abhinav K. Sharma ◽  
Carrie M. Howard ◽  
Christopher A. Shaw ◽  
Robert Klapper ◽  
...  

AbstractReconstructing the behavior of extinct species is challenging, particularly for those with no living analogues. However, damage preserved as paleopathologies on bone can record how an animal moved in life, potentially reflecting behavioral patterns. Here, we assess hypothesized etiologies of pathology in a pelvis and associated right femur of a Smilodon fatalis saber-toothed cat, one of the best-studied species from the Pleistocene-age Rancho La Brea asphalt seeps, California, USA, using visualization by computed tomography (CT). The pelvis exhibits massive destruction of the right hip socket that was interpreted, for nearly a century, to have developed from trauma and infection. CT imaging reveals instead that the pathological distortions characterize chronic remodeling that began at birth and led to degeneration of the joint over the animal’s life. These results suggest that this individual suffered from hip dysplasia, a congenital condition common in domestic dogs and cats. This individual reached adulthood but could not have hunted properly nor defended territory on its own, likely relying on a social group for feeding and protection. While extant social felids are rare, these fossils and others with similar pathologies are consistent with a spectrum of social strategies in Smilodon supported by a predominance of previous studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Manuel J. Salesa ◽  
Mauricio Antón ◽  
Alan Turner ◽  
Jorge Morales

Los llamados “félidos dientes de sable” aparecen en el registro fósil a partir del Mioceno superior, desapareciendo hace tan solo unos 10.000 años. Los últimos representantes de este grupo fueron los cazadores dominantes en las comunidades de mamíferos de las que formaron parte. Su anatomía, altamente especializada, es bastante bien conocida gracias a yacimientos como Rancho La Brea (EEUU), del cual se conocen restos de miles de individuos de Smilodon fatalis. Sin embargo, muy poco se sabía sobre la anatomía de los primeros macairodontinos y sobre el origen de este modelo de depredador. El descubrimiento del complejo de yacimientos del Cerro de los Batallones (Torrejón de Velasco, Madrid) ha proporcionado gran cantidad de restos de uno de los macairodontinos más primitivos, Paramachairodus ogygia, lo que ha permitido estudiar en profundidad su anatomía funcional, en concreto en este trabajo el complejo cráneo-cervical, y proponer una hipótesis que explique el origen para este grupo tan especializado de carnívoros.  


Author(s):  
Joshua E. Cohen ◽  
Larisa R.G. DeSantis ◽  
Emily L. Lindsey ◽  
Julie A. Meachen ◽  
F. Robin O'Keefe ◽  
...  

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9858
Author(s):  
Haowen Tong ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Bei Zhang ◽  
Bruce Rothschild ◽  
Stuart White ◽  
...  

Collaborative hunting by complex social groups is a hallmark of large dogs (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae), whose teeth also tend to be hypercarnivorous, specialized toward increased cutting edges for meat consumption and robust p4-m1 complex for cracking bone. The deep history of canid pack hunting is, however, obscure because behavioral evidence is rarely preserved in fossils. Dated to the Early Pleistocene (>1.2 Ma), Canis chihliensis from the Nihewan Basin of northern China is one of the earliest canines to feature a large body size and hypercarnivorous dentition. We present the first known record of dental infection in C. chihliensis, likely inflicted by processing hard food, such as bone. Another individual also suffered a displaced fracture of its tibia and, despite such an incapacitating injury, survived the trauma to heal. The long period required for healing the compound fracture is consistent with social hunting and family care (food-sharing) although alternative explanations exist. Comparison with abundant paleopathological records of the putatively pack-hunting Late Pleistocene dire wolf, Canis dirus, at the Rancho La Brea asphalt seeps in southern California, U.S.A., suggests similarity in feeding behavior and sociality between Chinese and American Canis across space and time. Pack hunting in Canis may be traced back to the Early Pleistocene, well before the appearance of modern wolves, but additional evidence is needed for confirmation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Robin O’Keefe

AbstractThe study of modularity in geometric morphometric landmark data has focused attention on an underlying question, that of whole-shape modularity, or the pattern and strength of covariation among all landmarks. Measuring whole-shape modularity allows measurement of the dimensionality of the shape, but current methods used to measure this dimensionality are limited in application. This paper proposes a metric for measuring the “effective dimensionality”, De, of geometric morphometric landmark data based on the Shannon entropy of the eigenvalue vector of the covariance matrix of GPA landmark data. A permutation test to establish null rank deficiency is developed to allow standardization for comparing dimensionality metrics between data sets, and a bootstrap test is employed for measures of dispersion. These novel methods are applied to a data set of 14 landmarks taken from 119 dire wolf jaws from Rancho La Brea. Comparison with the current test based on eigenvalue dispersion demonstrates that the new metric is more sensitive to detecting population differences in whole-shape modularity. The effective dimensionality metric is extended, in the dense semilandmark case, to a measure of “latent dimensionality”, Dl. Latent dimensionality should be comparable among landmark spaces, whether they are homologous or not.


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