Proboscideans on Parade: A review of the migratory behaviour of elephants, mammoths, and mastodons

Abstract

The ecology and behaviour of woolly and Columbian mammoths and mastodons have been extensively studied. Despite this, their patterns of mobility, and particularly the question of whether or not they migrated habitually, remains unclear. This paper summarises the current state of knowledge regarding mobility in these species, reviewing comparative datasets from extant elephant populations as well as isotopic data measured directly on the ancient animals themselves.Seasonal migration is not common in modern elephants and varies between years. Nonetheless, non-migratory elephants can still have considerable home ranges, whose size is affected mainly by habitat, seasonal availability of water and food, and biological sex. Strontium isotope analyses of woolly mammoths, Columbian mammoths, and mastodons demonstrate plasticity in their migratory behaviour as well, probably in response to spatio-temporal variations in ecological conditions. However, biological sex is difficult to establish for most proboscidean fossils and its influence on the results of Sr analyses can therefore not be assessed. Advances in intra-tooth sampling and analytical methods for strontium isotope analysis have enabled research on intra-annual movement, revealing nomadic behaviour in all three species. Sulfur isotopes have been analysed from woolly mammoth remains numerous times, but its methodology is not yet developed well enough to inform on past proboscidean mobility in as much detail as strontium studies.The inter- and intra-individual variation in migratory behaviour in mammoths and mastodons implies that their role in the subsistence strategies of Palaeolithic people may have fluctuated as well. Further assessment of hominin-proboscidean predator-prey interactions will require a more detailed understanding of proboscidean habitual mobility in specific contexts and places. Strontium isotope studies based on multi-year enamel sequences from multiple individuals have the potential to provide this insight.