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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard G. Klein  and
Katharine Scott
Richard G. Klein
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Katharine Scott
Affiliation:
38 Newland Mill, Witney OX8 6SZ, United Kingdom
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Abstract

The 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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , July 1989 , pp. 88 - 95
Copyright
University of Washington

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