Specialized horse killers in Europe: Foetal horse remains in the Late Pleistocene Srbsko Chlum-Komín Cave hyena den in the Bohemian Karst (Czech Republic) and actualistic comparisons to modern African spotted hyenas as zebra hunters

Abstract

Late Pleistocene spotted hyenas hunted Przewalski horses in spring to early summer, as documented by foetal horse skeleton remains of Equus ferus cf. przewalskii Poljakoff 1881, found between 3569 megamammal bones in the hyena den site Srbsko Chlum-Komín of the Bohemian Karst (Czech Republic). The main prey of hyenas Crocuta crocuta spelaea (Goldfuss 1823) was this small horse, well distributed in Central Europe. 51% (NISP = 1.800) of the megafauna in the Srbsko Chlum-Komín Cave are horse bones, consisting of mainly complete and in a few cases cracked and chewed dominantly leg and cranial remains. Carcass body parts must have been imported into the hyena prey storage and cub-raising den cave. Similar high amounts of horse remains and taphonomic situations are reported from other Late Pleistocene hyena den caves in Central Europe, such as Rochelot Cave (France). Den sites indicate an active selected hunt of mainly adult horses. Hyenas left partly articulated legs or complete distal bones and many isolated teeth at their dens, the latter resulting from consumption of the thin-walled horse skulls. In periods of megafauna species abundance, hyenas used mainly the meat leaving only a few chewed or cracked horse bones (Srbsko Cave or Rochelot Cave), whereas in poor feeding times or in cub-raising dens, bone consumption was higher resulting in many fragmented and chewed horse bones (Nad Kačákem Cave, Czech Republic). Whereas African spotted hyenas hunt zebras and even modern donkeys successfully, in comparison to modern spotted hyena dens in Amboseli (Kenya) and Syokimau (Botswana), it seems as if the Ice Age spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta spelaea of Europe hunted very similar equine prey, in this case the Przewalski-horse, especially in hilly and mountainous regions, where the largest prey (mammoth and woolly rhino) were rare or absent.