Comparison of Paleodietary Reconstructions Using Pre- and Post-Glacial Mammut and Mammuthus
Abstract
Mesowear, microwear and dental calculus analyses are utilized to complete dietary reconstructions on Mammut and Mammuthus, and are compared to modern Loxodonta africana. These analyses demonstrate that left and right, upper and lower, and imperfect molars may be utilized indiscriminately. Loxodonta africana are grazers or mixed-feeders. Mammut were primarily browsers, but may have changed their diets meal-by-meal or seasonally to graze or mixed-feed. Mesowear analysis of Mammuthus indicates a grazing diet, but microwear analysis indicates a mixed-feeding diet. Dental calculus analysis shows all three species were mixed-feeding. Mesowear and microwear show no differences in pre- and post-glacial diet for fossil proboscideans, but dental calculus showed large differences. In pre-glacial dental calculus there was a larger proportion of tiny grass starch granules, whereas post-glacially there is a larger proportion of large grass starch granules with lamellae. This result is consistent with a shift in Mammut and Mammuthus diet during the end-Pleistocene.
Description
Keywords
Archaeology, Zoology, Paleontology
Citation
Cammidge, T. S. (2017). Comparison of Paleodietary Reconstructions Using Pre- and Post-Glacial Mammut and Mammuthus (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25376