A severely disabled mammoth – The palaeopathological evidence

Abstract

The disarticulated, nearly complete skeleton of a mature adult bull mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii), measuring some 4 m at the shoulder (top of the scapula) with an estimated live weight of approximately 9 tonnes, was excavated between 1990 and 1995 from the West Runton Freshwater Bed (WRFB), Norfolk, dated to the early Middle Pleistocene, approximately 700 ka.The near-completeness of the skeleton provides a unique opportunity to search for evidence of skeletal disease and speculate on the cause of death. Of particular interest is the abnormal gross appearance of the right distal femur. The opposing right tibia was not located, but it was possible to determine that the femur abnormality was indicative of a long-standing knee injury with subluxation. The injury, per se, did not lead to the death of the animal, but may have compromised the animal’s mobility sufficiently to have contributed to its demise.