Late Pleistocene Crocuta crocuta spelaea in Bulgaria: distribution and history of research (Carnivora: Hyaenidae)

Abstract

The paper summarizes all scattered data from the last 116 years on the distribution of the Late Pleistocene cave hyena in Bulgaria, a part of them unpublished. Data from 24 fossil sites (Middle Pleistocene – Late Pleistocene) in the country are presented. The fossil record in Bulgaria proves the wide distribution of the species in the karst areas of the low-mountain regions of the country. Its Pleistocene localities are concentrated in the Predbalkan Mts. (83%), Strandja Mts. (8%), Western Rhodopes Mts. (4%) and southern Dobruja Plain (4%). They are situated at the altitudes between 136 and 1250 m a.s.l., about 75% of them at 136–400 m a. s. l. All (except one) Bulgarian sites represent former human dwellings, which indicates competition between man and this carnivore for the cave spaces.