Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T17:26:22.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prey selection by terrestrial carnivores in a lower Pleistocene paleocommunity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Paul Palmqvist ,
Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro  and
Alfonso Arribas
Paul Palmqvist
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología y Ecología (Área de Paleontología). Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad, 29071 Málaga, Spain. E-mail: [email protected]
Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro
Affiliation:
Museo de Prehistoria y Paleontología ‘J. Gibert’ and Casa de Oficios ‘Palacio de los Segura II,’ 18858 Orce (Granada), Spain
Alfonso Arribas
Affiliation:
Museo Geominero (ITGE), Ríos Rosas, 23, 28003 Madrid, Spain
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We report quantitative paleoecologic data on the large mammal assemblage preserved in lower Pleistocene deposits at Venta Micena (Orce, Granada, southeastern Spain). Taphonomic studies show that bones were collected mainly by hyaenids, which transported and deposited them near shallow dens. Differential fragmentation of major long bones was produced by hyaenas as a function of their density and marrow content. Strong selection of prey by carnivores—which preferentially killed juveniles, females, and individuals with diminished locomotor capabilities among ungulate prey species of larger body size—is indicated by (1) the abundance of remains of juvenile ungulates in relation to the average weight of adult individuals in each species, (2) attritional mortality profiles for ungulate species deduced from crown height measurements, (3) the presence of many metapodials with different osteopathologies in their epiphyses, such as arthrosis, and (4) a biased intersexual ratio of large bovids. Comparison of the frequencies with which modern African carnivores kill and scavenge ungulates from various size classes with the abundance of these size categories in the assemblage suggests that the Venta Micena hyaena (Pachycrocuta brevirostris) was a bone-cracking scavenger that fed largely on carcasses of ungulates preyed upon and partially consumed by fresh meat-eating carnivores such us saber-toothed felids (Homotherium latidens and Megantereon whitei) and wild dogs (Canis falconeri).

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , Fall 1996 , pp. 514 - 534
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Behrensmeyer, A. K. 1978. Taphonomic and ecologic information from bone weathering. Paleobiology 4:150–162.Google Scholar
Behrensmeyer, A. K., Western, D., and Dechant Boaz, D. E. 1979. New perspectives in vertebrate paleoecology from a recent bone assemblage. Paleobiology 5:12–21.Google Scholar
Bere, R. 1966. The African elephant. Golden Press, New York.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1978. Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1981. Bones: ancient men and modern myths. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R., and Bertram, J. 1977. Bone frequencies and attritional processes. pp. 77–156in Binford, L. R., ed. For theory building in archaeology. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Blumenschine, R. J. 1991. Hominid carnivory, foraging strategies, and the socio-economic function of early archaeological sites. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 334:211–221.Google Scholar
Blumenschine, R. J., and Caro, T. M. 1986. Unit flesh weights of some East African bovids. African Journal of Ecology 24:273–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumenschine, R. J., and Madrigal, T. C. 1993. Variability in long bone marrow yields of East African ungulates and its zooarchaeological implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:555–587.Google Scholar
Bourlière, F. 1963. Specific feeding habits of African carnivores. African Wild Life Journal 17:21–27.Google Scholar
Brain, C. K. 1981. The hunters or the hunted: an introduction to African cave taphonomy. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Calder, W. A. 1982. The pace of growth: an allometric approach to comparative embryonic and post-embryonic growth. Journal of Zoology 198:215–225.Google Scholar
Calder, W. A. 1984. Size, function, and life history. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Case, T. J. 1978. On the evolution and adaptive significance of post-natal growth rates in the terrestrial vertebrates. Quarterly Review of Biology 53:243–282.Google Scholar
Cooper, S. M. 1990. The hunting behavior of spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) in a region containing both sedentary and migratory populations of herbivores. African Journal of Ecology 28:131–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corbertt, G. 1892. A tiger attacking elephants. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 7:119–120.Google Scholar
Crisler, L. 1956. Observations of wolves hunting caribou. Journal of Mammalogy 37:337–346.Google Scholar
Cullen, A. 1969. Window onto wilderness. East African Publishing House, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Damuth, J. 1982. Analysis of the preservation of community structure in assemblages of fossil mammals. Paleobiology 8:434–446.Google Scholar
Damuth, J., and MacFadden, B. J. 1990. Body size in mammalian paleobiology: estimation and biological implications. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Deane, N. N. 1962. The spotted hyaena, Crocuta c. crocuta. Lammergeyer 2:26–44.Google Scholar
de Pienaar, U. 1969. Predator-prey relations amongst the larger mammals of the Kruger National Park. Koedoe 12:108–176.Google Scholar
Eaton, R. L. 1970. Hunting behavior of the cheetah. Journal of Wildlife Management 34:56–67.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, J. F. 1981. The mammalian radiations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Elliot, J. P., and Cowan, I. M. 1978. Territoriality, density, and prey of the lion in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Canadian Journal of Zoology 56:1726–1734.Google Scholar
Emerson, A. M. 1990. Archaeological implications of variability in the economic anatomy of Bison bison. Ph.D. dissertation. Washington State University, Spokane.Google Scholar
Estes, R. D., and Goddard, J. 1967. Prey selection and hunting behavior of the African wild dog. Journal of Wildlife Management 31:52–69.Google Scholar
Fanshawe, J. H., and FitzGibbon, C. D. 1993. Factors influencing the hunting success of an African wild dog pack. Animal Behaviour 45:479–490.Google Scholar
FitzGibbon, C. D., and Fanshawe, J. H. 1989. The condition and age of Thomson's gazelles killed by cheetahs and wild dogs. Journal of Zoology 218:99–107.Google Scholar
Floyd, T. J., Mech, L. D., and Jordan, P. A. 1978. Relating wolf scat content to prey consumed. Journal of Wildlife Management 42:528–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J., and Kearney, D. 1967. Nairobi National Park game census, 1966. East African Wildlife Journal 5:112–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, T. K., and Kat, P. W. 1990. Movements, activity, and prey relationships of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) near Aitong, southwestern Kenya. African Journal of Ecology 28:330–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, T. K., and Kat, P. W. 1993. Hunting success of African wild dogs in Southwestern Kenya. Journal of Mammalogy 74:464–467.Google Scholar
Gabunia, L., and Vekua, A. 1995. A Plio-Pleistocene hominid from Dmanisi, East Georgia, Caucasus. Nature 373:509–512.Google Scholar
Gibert, J. 1992. Proyecto OrceCueva Victoria (1988-1992): presencia humana en el Pleistoceno inferior de Granada y Murcia. Ayuntamiento de Orce, Granada, Spain.Google Scholar
Gibert, J., and Palmqvist, P. 1995. Fractal analysis of the Orce skull sutures. Journal of Human Evolution 28:561–575.Google Scholar
Goddard, J. 1967. Home range, behavior and recruitment rates of two black rhinoceros populations. East African Wildlife Journal 5:133–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonyea, W. J. 1976. Behavioral implications of saber-toothed morphology. Paleobiology, 4:332–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henschell, J. R., and Skinner, J. D. 1990. The diet of spotted hyaenas Crocuta crocuta in Kruger National Park. African Journal of Ecology 28:69–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirst, S. 1969. Populations in a Transvaal Lowveld nature reserve. Zoologica Africana 4:199–230.Google Scholar
Janis, C. M. 1990. Correlation of cranial and dental variables with body size in ungulates and macropodoids. pp. 255–299in Damuth and MacFadden 1990.Google Scholar
Johnsingh, A. J. T. 1992. Prey selection in three large carnivores in Bandipur. Mammalia 56:517–526.Google Scholar
Jones, K. T., and Metcalfe, D. 1988. Bar bones archaeology: bone marrow indices and efficiency. Journal of Archaeological Science 8:315–335.Google Scholar
Kingdon, J. 1979. East African mammals. An atlas of evolution in Africa, Vol. III, Part B (Large mammals). Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Klein, R. G., and Cruz-Uribe, K. 1983. The computation of ungulate age (mortality) profiles from dental crown heights. Paleobiology 9:70–78.Google Scholar
Kolenosky, G. B. 1972. Wolf predation on wintering deer in eastcentral Ontario. Journal of Wildlife Management 36:357–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruuk, H. 1972. The spotted hyena. A study of predation and social behavior. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kruuk, H., and Turner, M. 1967. Comparative notes on predation by lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog in the Serengeti area, East Africa. Mammalia 31:1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Legendre, S. 1986. Analysis of mammalian communities from the late Eocene and Oligocene of southern France. Paleovertebrata 16:191–212.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1984. Bone density and differential survivorship of fossil classes. Journal of Antropological Archaeology 3:259–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1994. Vertebrate taphonomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malcolm, J. R., and Van Lawick, Baron H. 1975. Notes on wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) hunting zebras. Mammalia 39:231–240.Google Scholar
Marean, C. W., and Spencer, L. M. 1991. Impact of carnivore ravaging on zooarchaeological measures of element abundance. American Antiquity 56:645–658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, L. D. 1989. Fossil history of the terrestrial Carnivora. pp. 536–568in Gittleman, J. L., ed. Carnivore behavior, ecology, and evolution. Chapman and Hall, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Navarro, B. 1991. Revisión sistemática y estudio cuantitativo de la fauna de macromamfferos del yacimiento de Venta Micena (Orce, Granada). Ph.D. dissertation. Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona.Google Scholar
Martínez-Navarro, B. 1992a. Revisión sistemática y estudio cuantitativo de la fauna de macromamíferos del yacimiento de Venta Micena (Orce, Granada). pp. 21–85in Gibert 1992.Google Scholar
Martínez-Navarro, B. 1992b. Estudio cuantitativo y consideraciones paleoecológicas de la comunidad de mamíferos del yacimiento de Venta Micena (Orce, Granada). pp. 155–187in Gibert 1992.Google Scholar
Martínez-Navarro, B., and Palmqvist, P. 1995. Presence of the African machairodont Megantereon whitei (Broom, 1937) (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) in the lower Plelstocene site of Venta Micena (Orce, Granada, Spain), with considerations about the origin, dispersal and evolution of the genus. Journal of Archaeological Science 22:569–5 82.Google Scholar
Martínez-Navarro, B., and Palmqvist, P. 1996. Presence of the African saber-toothed felid Megantereon whitei (Broom, 1937) (Mammalia, Carnivora, Machairodontidae) in Apollonia-1 (Mygdonia Basin, Macedonia, Greece). Journal of Archaeological Science 23 (in press).Google Scholar
Mendoza, M., Palmqvist, P., Guerrero, S., Martínez-Navarro, B., Pérez Claros, J. A., Gibert, J., and Eisenmann, V. 1993. Consideraciones tafonómicas, paleoecológicas y paleoetológicas sobre la comunidad de macromamíferos de Venta Micena (Orce, Granada). Comunicaciones de las IX Jornadas de Paleontología (Málaga, Spain).Google Scholar
Menéndez, E. 1987. Cérvidos del yacimiento del Pleistoceno inferior de Venta Micena-2, Orce (Granada, España). Paleontologia i Evolució, mem. espec. I:129–181.Google Scholar
Mills, M. G. L. 1984. Prey selection and feeding habits of the large carnivores in the southern Kalahari. Koedoe 27(Suppl.) 27:281–294.Google Scholar
Mills, M. G. L., and Biggs, H. C. 1993. Prey apportionment and related ecological relationships between large carnivores in Kruger National Park. Symposium Zoological, Society of London 65:253–268.Google Scholar
Mills, M. G. L., and Shenk, T. M. 1992. Predator-prey relationships: the impact of lion predation on wildbeest and zebra populations. Journal of Animal Ecology 61:693–702.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. L., Shenton, J. B. and Uys, J. C. M. 1965. Predation on large mammals in the Kafue National Park, Zambia. Zoologica Africana 1:297–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmqvist, P., Gibert, J., and Martínez-Navarro, B. 1992. Implicaciones tafonómicas y paleoecológicas de la relación tamaño-abundancia en la paleocomunidad de Venta Micena. pp. 155–187in Gibert 1992.Google Scholar
Palmqvist, P., Gibert, J., and Martínez-Navarro, B. 1993. Precisiones sobre la bioestratinomía de Venta Micena. Revista Española de Paleontología 8:206Google Scholar
Palmqvist, P., Pérez Claros, J. A., Gibert, J., and Santamaría, J. L. 1996. Comparative morphometric study of a human phalanx from the lower Pleistocene site at Cueva Victoria (Murcia, Spain), by means of Fourier analysis, shape coordinates of landmarks, principal and relative warps. Journal of Archaeological Science 23:95–107.Google Scholar
Peters, R. H. 1983. The ecological implications of body size. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pimlott, D. H. 1967. Wolf predation and ungulate populations. American Zoologist 7:267–278.Google Scholar
Potvin, F., Jolicoeur, H. and Huot, J. 1988. Wolf diet and prey selectivity during two periods for deer in Quebec: decline versus expansion. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66:1274–1279.Google Scholar
Rawn-Schatzinger, V. 1992. The scimitar cat Homotherium serum Cope: osteology, functional morphology, and predatory behavior. Illinois State Museum Reports of Investigations 47:1–80.Google Scholar
Roth, V. L. 1990. Insular dwarf elephants: a case study in body mass estimation and ecological inference. pp. 151–179in Damuth and MacFadden 1990.Google Scholar
Ruggiero, R. G. 1991. Prey selection of the lion (Panthera leo L.) in Manovo-Gounda-St. Floris National Park, Central African Republic. Mammalia 55:23–33.Google Scholar
Schaller, G. B. 1967. The deer and the tiger. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Schaller, G. B. 1972. The Serengeti lion. A study of predator-prey relations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Scott, K. M. 1990. Postcranial dimensions of ungulates as predictors of body mass. pp. 301–335in Damuth and MacFadden 1990.Google Scholar
Seidensticker, J. 1976. On the ecological separation between tigers and leopards. Biotropica 8:225–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shipman, P. 1981. Life history of a fossil. An introduction to taphonomy and paleoecology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sinclair, A. R. E. 1974. The natural regulation of buffalo populations in East Africa. East African Wildlife Journal 12:185–200.Google Scholar
Skinner, J. D., Funston, P. J., van Aarde, R. J., van Dyck, G., and Haupt, M. A. 1992. Diet of spotted hyaenas in some mesic and arid southern African game reserves adjoining farmland. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 22:119–121.Google Scholar
Soria, F. J, López-Garrido, A. C., and Vera, J. A. 1987. Análisis estratigráfico y sedimentológico de los depósitos neógenocuaternarios en el sector de Orce (depresión Guadix-Baza). In Geología y Paleontología del Pleistoceno inferior de Venta Micena. Diputación de Barcelona, Barcelona.Google Scholar
Valverde, J. A. 1967. Estructura de una comunidad mediterránea de vertebrados terrestres. Ediciones del C.S.I.C., Madrid.Google Scholar
Van Orsdol, K. G. 1984. Foraging behavior and hunting success of lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. African Journal of Ecology 22:79–99.Google Scholar
Van Valkenburg, B. V. 1990. Skeletal and dental predictors of body mass in carnivores. pp. 181–205in Damuth and MacFadden 1990.Google Scholar
Vera, J. A., Fernández, J., López-Garrido, C. A. and Rodríguez-Fernández, J. 1985. Geología y estratigrafía de los materiales Plioceno-Pleistocenos del sector de Orce-Venta Micena (Prov. Granada). Paleontologia i Evolució 18:3–11.Google Scholar
Western, D. 1979. Size, life history and ecology in mammals. African Journal of Ecology 17:185–204.Google Scholar
Western, D. 1980. Linking the ecology of past and present mammal communities. pp. 41–54In Behrensmeyer, A. K. and Hill, A. P., eds. Fossils in the making. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Wright, B. S. 1960. Predation on big game in East Africa. The Journal of Wildlife Management 24:1–15.Google Scholar