Dyuktai Goose (Anser djuktaiensis) and Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) from the Pleistocene of Central Yakutia.

Abstract

Bird bones from the Late Pleistocene (31-24 kyr) Ikhine-2 site (Central Yakutia), one of the key Upper Paleolithic sites in northeastern Siberia, have first been studied. This is the northernmost and the oldest bird association in the Pleistocene of Eastern Siberia. Among the bone materials available, the coracoids of the extinct Dyuktai goose (Anser djuktaiensis) and the hooded crane (Grus monacha) are of particular interest. Dyuktai goose is a large representative of the mammoth fauna, originally described from younger deposits (12-13 kyr) in southeastern Yakutia. This is the second find of this species in Russia, which significantly expands our understanding of the geography and time of its distribution. The hooded crane, a rare modern species with a limited habitat area, has first been found in paleontological record. This find indicates the northern distribution of this species during the Late Pleistocene Karginian interstadial. Bones of Anas crecca and Larus canus have also been found at the site.