Mammuthus Columbi Research Articles

Investigating Anthropogenic Mammoth Extinction With Mathematic Models

One extinction hypothesis of the Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi ), called overkill, theorizes that early humans overhunted the animal. We employ two dierent approaches to test this hypothesis mathematically: analyze the stability of the equilibria of a 2D ordinary dierential equations (ODE) system and develop a metapopulation dierential equations model. The 2D ODE system is a modied predator-prey model that also includes migration. The metapopulation model is a spatial expansion of the rst model on a rectangular grid. Using this metapopulation system, we model the migration of humans into North America and the response in the mammoth population. These approaches show evidence that human-mammoth interaction would have aected the extinction of the Columbian mammoth during the late Pleistocene.

Taxonomic overview and tusk growth analyses of Ziegler Reservoir proboscideans

At an altitude of 2705m in the Colorado Rockies (USA), the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site gives a rare look at a high-elevation ecosystem from the late Pleistocene (especially MIS 5) of North America. Remains of more than four mammoths and about 35 mastodons dominate the macrofossil assemblage. Mammoth remains are attributed to Mammuthus columbi, and mastodon remains are referred to the well-known, continent-wide Mammut americanum. Mastodon remains occur within and between several lake-margin slump deposits. Their deposition must therefore have occurred as events that were to some degree separate in time. We treat the mastodon assemblage in each stratigraphic unit as a source of information on environmental conditions during the lives of these individuals. Mastodon mandibular tusks are abundant at the site and represent both males and females, from calves to full-grown adults. This study presents the first attempt to use microCT, thin-section, and isotope records from mandibular tusks to reconstruct features of life-history. We recognize an up-section trend in δ18O profiles toward higher values, suggestive of warmer temperatures. Throughout this sequence, mastodon growth histories show low mean sensitivities suggestive of low levels of environmental stress. This work helps frame expectations for assessing environmental pressures on terminal Pleistocene populations.

Issue Information

Front Cover: Skeleton of a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) assembled from bones recovered at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. Original photograph taken by Jonathan Drury. Reproduced by permission of David A. Gold, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.

Attempted DNA extraction from a Rancho La Brea Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi): prospects for ancient DNA from asphalt deposits

Fossil-bearing asphalt deposits are an understudied and potentially significant source of ancient DNA. Previous attempts to extract DNA from skeletons preserved at the Rancho La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles, California, have proven unsuccessful, but it is unclear whether this is due to a lack of endogenous DNA, or if the problem is caused by asphalt-mediated inhibition. In an attempt to test these hypotheses, a recently recovered Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) skeleton with an unusual pattern of asphalt impregnation was studied. Ultimately, none of the bone samples tested successfully amplified M. columbi DNA. Our work suggests that reagents typically used to remove asphalt from ancient samples also inhibit DNA extraction. Ultimately, we conclude that the probability of recovering ancient DNA from fossils in asphalt deposits is strongly (perhaps fatally) hindered by the organic compounds that permeate the bones and that at the Rancho La Brea tar pits, environmental conditions might not have been ideal for the general preservation of genetic material.

The Columbian mammoths from the Upper Pleistocene of Hot Springs (South Dakota, United States)

Hot Springs dans le Dakota du Sud est incontestablement l’un des sites les plus riches en vestiges de mammouths in situ jamais mis au jour. Le site daté du Pléistocène supérieur correspond à un ancien marécage issu d’une source artésienne. La source, constamment à 35 °C, était providentielle en période glaciaire pour les animaux qui pouvaient se désaltérer et se repaître d’une végétation verdoyante typique d’un marécage, et cela en toutes saisons. Toutefois, la source constituait un piège impitoyable pour les animaux qui s’aventuraient dans le lac se terminant en entonnoir dans sa partie submergée. Ainsi, il y a ± 26 000 ans BP (moyenne des datations 14C, Laury 1990), nombre d’animaux se sont laissés prendre au piège, essentiellement les mammouths. Afin de comprendre ce phénomène, nous nous sommes attachés à dresser la courbe de mortalité des proboscidiens. Pour ce faire, nous avons attribué à chaque individu une classe d’âge, définie par le rang de chaque molaire, au sein de la série jugale, couplé à son degré d’usure. La révision du profil de mortalité de Mammuthus columbi dressé en 1994, au vu des nouvelles données collectées et présentées ici, indique que le piège a affecté une majorité de sujets adultes. En effet, vingt-deux individus sur une totalité de trente-six identifiés d’après leurs molaires, étaient approximativement âgés de 25 à 38 ans. Le déficit en individus séniles associé au manque de très jeunes mammouths est pour le moins surprenant. Ce profil inhabituel pourrait s’expliquer par l’instabilité de berges abruptes et glissantes se dérobant sous un poids imposant, ne laissant aucune chance aux animaux approchant les cinq tonnes de s’extraire d’un bourbier qui ne leur offrait aucune prise en cas de chute. Il ne semble pas que ce profil résulte de mortalités massives catastrophiques mais plutôt de petits groupes de mâles ou de familles dont les jeunes mammouths, moins lourds, auraient pu réchapper.

Variación de la dieta del mamut de las praderas de Laguna de las Cruces, San Luis Potosí, México

Using biogeochemical techniques based on 13C/12C and 18O/16O relationships in dental enamel, it was inferred if the diets of four Columbian mammoths (Mammuth...

Geochronology of the Stolle Mammoth Locality of Eastern New Mexico

The Stolle mammoth locality, discovered in 1977, consists of the partially articulated skeleton of a young Columbian mammoth exposed at the edge of a typical High Plains playa by bulldozer deepening. No fabricated artifacts were found but boulder and cobble size caliche clasts were found in association. Cut marks found on a bone fragment were not addressed by the original excavators. A black mat that directly overlies the bones is of Younger Dryas age indicating they are probably of Clovis age. Stolle may be a case of a natural death scavenged by Clovis people.

New Mastodont and Mammoth Remains from Pleistocene Deposits in Southeastern Arizona

The remains of a mastodont and mammoth were recovered from Pleistocene deposits in southeastern Arizona. These new proboscidean remains have characteristics distinguishing them from their more typical late Pleistocene forms. The mastodont (Mammut americanum), has traits similar to those of other female mastodonts, but includes mandibular tusks. This may indicate an early Pleistocene Age or supports evidence that female mastodonts had mandibular tusks. The partial mammoth jaw and molar display characteristics similar to Mammuthus columbi, but appears to be a variant or earlier form approaching those displayed in Mammuthus meridionalis. The presence of different proboscideans with different diets, although within the same geologic unit, cannot be confirmed as being sympatric. If so, it would indicate a partitioning of resources. Mammoths are grazers, and more common in Arizona than the browsing mastodonts.

Noninvasive histological comparison of bone growth patterns among fossil and extant neonatal elephantids using synchrotron radiation X-ray microtomography

ABSTRACT How is the bone tissue in skeletal supports of a neonatal elephant organized, and how does this histological structure differ among the neonates of modern species, mammoths, and insular dwarfs? We used synchrotron X-ray microtomography (SR-μCT) to obtain high-resolution image-‘slices’ noninvasively, from the femoral and tibial diaphyses of neonatal African elephants, a young juvenile Asian elephant, Columbian mammoths, and California Channel Island pygmy mammoths. The results compared favorably in level of detail with histological sectioning, but without the shrinkage, distortion, or loss of tissue inevitable with histology. From the tomography images we were able to rank by ontogenetic stage specimens of taxa that are otherwise difficult to categorize because they vary greatly in size; from these images we observed that laminar fibrolamellar bone predominated and were able to quantify vascular patterns. Bones of the Columbian mammoth typically had the thickest and largest number of laminae, whereas the insular dwarfs were notable in their variability. A distinct change in tissue microstructure marks the boundary between prenatal and postnatal periosteal bone deposition. Qualitatively, patterns of early bone growth of elephantids resemble those in many young tetrapods that grow into large adults, including sauropod dinosaurs.

New Skeletal Remains ofMammuthus columbifrom Glynn County, Georgia with Notes on their Historical and Paleoecological Significance

Abstract Although Mammuthus columbi (Columbian Mammoth) remains have been collected and extensively studied throughout the United States, limited in situ material has been discovered in Georgia. Here we describe new Columbian Mammoth material from Clark Quarry, a recently excavated late-Pleistocene locality near Brunswick, GA, and discuss their historical and paleoecological significance. The site has yielded 12 genera of birds, 18 genera of amphibians and reptiles, and 12 species of mammals. Radiocarbon analyses bracket the locality between 19,840 and 22,240 radiocarbon years before present. In 1857, Falconer designated a partial third upper molar unearthed during the excavation of the Brunswick Altamaha Canal as the type specimen for Mammuthus (Elephas) columbi. Clark Quarry borders the abandoned Brunswick Altamaha Canal, and presents the possibility that this new material could be from the type locality of Mammuthus columbi. Material identified thus far indicates a minimum of two individuals and includ...

Mammoth tooth enamel growth rates inferred from stable isotope analysis and histology

Mammoth (Mammuthus sp.) teeth are relatively abundant in Quaternary deposits from Eurasia and North America, and their isotopic compositions can be used to reconstruct past seasonal patterns in precipitation, diet, and migration. Strategies for collecting and interpreting such data, however, are strongly dependent on growth rates, which can vary among species, individuals, and within teeth. In this study, we use histological and isotopic measurements to determine enamel growth rates for a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) tooth in two directions. Using histology, the growth rate through the enamel thickness (ET; perpendicular to the height of the tooth) is estimated at 0.8 to 1.5mm/yr. Isotopic sampling through the innermost 0.36mm of the ET recovered less than half a period of variation (i.e., half an inferred year of growth), which is consistent with the histological estimate for ET growth rate. A combination of histological and isotopic measurements suggests that the enamel extension rate (growth in the height of the tooth) is 13–14mm/yr. Knowledge of enamel growth rates should improve the design and interpretation of future isotopic studies of mammoth teeth. The combination of histological and isotopic measurements may also prove useful in determining growth rates for other extinct taxa.

Geographic variation of diet and habitat of the Mexican populations of Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi)

Isotopic data (δ13C and δ18O) for 25 enamel samples from Mammuthus columbi for 13 Mexican localities are provided. On average, the samples provide evidence of a mixed C3/C4 diet. The population consists of six individuals with an exclusive C4 plant diet, and 19 with some consumption of C3 plants. Latitude, longitude, and elevation do not have an affect on the average diet. Comparisons of data from the Mexican specimens with those values in the literature for samples from California, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas (USA) show that food habits in North America were similar. Comparisons of δ13C and δ18O values with those of javelinas, mastodonts, tapirs, and white-tailed deer from the Floridan Late Pleistocene confirm that mammoths primarily were inhabitants of open areas, indicating a probable case of biomic specialization.

Proteomic Analysis of a Pleistocene Mammoth Femur Reveals More than One Hundred Ancient Bone Proteins

We used high-sensitivity, high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry to shotgun sequence ancient protein remains extracted from a 43 000 year old woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ) bone preserved in the Siberian permafrost. For the first time, 126 unique protein accessions, mostly low-abundance extracellular matrix and plasma proteins, were confidently identified by solid molecular evidence. Among the best characterized was the carrier protein serum albumin, presenting two single amino acid substitutions compared to extant African ( Loxodonta africana ) and Indian ( Elephas maximus ) elephants. Strong evidence was observed of amino acid modifications due to post-mortem hydrolytic and oxidative damage. A consistent subset of this permafrost bone proteome was also identified in more recent Columbian mammoth ( Mammuthus columbi ) samples from temperate latitudes, extending the potential of the approach described beyond subpolar environments. Mass spectrometry-based ancient protein sequencing offers new perspectives for future molecular phylogenetic inference and physiological studies on samples not amenable to ancient DNA investigation. This approach therefore represents a further step into the ongoing integration of different high-throughput technologies for identification of ancient biomolecules, unleashing the field of paleoproteomics.

The duration and rate of molar plate formation in Palaeoloxodon cypriotes and Mammuthus columbi from dental histology

Fossil elephantids are often assigned chronological ages based on tooth eruption and wear in extant elephants. Differences in body mass are likely to be accompanied by shifts in life history strategies, however, and hypotheses about these shifts cannot be tested using relative age. A better understanding of interspecific differences in the duration of tooth formation would help test hypotheses about life history variation. In this study, periodic incremental features visible in the enamel of histological thin sections of molar plates were used to estimate the rate and duration of plate formation in an insular dwarf, Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, which is smaller than extant elephants, and Mammuthus columbi, which is larger. Polarized light microscopy and image analysis software were used to determine the daily secretion rate of enamel and plate extension rate, the rate at which the plate increases in height each day, utilizing the daily incremental features, the cross striations, and accentuated lines representing the forming front of enamel at a particular time during plate formation. Estimates were made of total plate formation time from crown height and extension rate. Histological sections were prepared from molar fragments from each species. Five sections were prepared in the same plane from the large M. columbi plate. The daily secretion rate, 2–5 μm, is similar in both elephants, but the extension rate is higher in the larger M. columbi. The initial extension rate is estimated to be 62.5 μm per day, but drops to around 32.3 toward cervical portion of the plate. In P. cypriotes, the initial extension rate is estimated to be 34.4 μm per day, dropping to 12 μm per day and then rising to 23.3 μm per day in the cervical region. Estimated plate formation time is around 10.6 years for 180.9 mm of height in M. columbi and 5.9 years for 51.1 mm of height in P. cypriotes. M. columbi thus forms a taller plate by increasing both extension rate and the duration of formation. These differences could be allometric, with higher crowned teeth forming more rapidly than low crowned teeth, or they could be related to differences in life history strategies between taxa.

An examination of dietary diversity patterns in Pleistocene proboscideans (Mammuthus, Palaeoloxodon, and Mammut) from Europe and North America as revealed by dental microwear

Recently, dental wear studies in mammals have emerged as valuable proxies for documenting the existence of geographical and/or temporal variability in diet and vegetation. However, very few paleodietary studies have focused on proboscidean dietary reconstruction. The most sensitive proxy for discerning short-term dietary shifts is dental microwear. Dental microwear analysis was used to study the dietary traits of fossil proboscideans in eleven samples from nine Pleistocene localities from Europe and North America (Palaeoloxodon antiquus, Mammuthus meridionalis, Mammuthus columbi, Mammuthus primigenius, and Mammut americanum). The North American M. americanum was a committed browser in both localities studied. Interestingly, M. americanum and M. columbi from the same locality (Phosphate Beds, South Carolina) were both engaged in browsing. The genus Mammuthus shows a more browsing habit in a sampled population of its early representative (M. meridionalis), with a probable trend through rather variable mixed feeding in late Mammuthus trogontherii, to grazing specialization in some, but possibly not all, M. primigenius. P. antiquus from Europe also demonstrates dietary plasticity. However, P. antiquus apparently shows a trend toward including a larger component of browse in its diet following its entry into Europe. These different dietary trends in the latter two genera, as far as current data allow, might be the result of a trend towards niche differentiation in these taxa.

Giants and pygmies: Mammoths of Santa Rosa Island, California (USA)

Mammoth remains have been known from the northern Channel Islands of California since 1856. Initially, it was considered that there were several species of mammoths on the islands. It has now been determined that there are only two species: 1) Mammuthus exilis, the island pygmy mammoth, and 2) Mammuthus columbi, the giant, continental (mainland) mammoths which were the ancestral mammoths from which M. exilis was derived. Discovery and recovery of the most complete skeleton of M. exilis, in 1994 prompted new research efforts and a numerical chronology for the pygmy mammoths, ranging from 11,030 BP to greater than 200,000 a by U/Th (Uranium/Thorium). Little attention had been paid to the chronology of the less abundant M. columbi remains. Uranium/Thorium dates on two M. columbi teeth yielded dates of 28,000 ± 2000 a, and 64,500 + 7400/−6900 a. If the U/TH dates are valid, they indicate a long history of shared island occupation, with M. exilis, or repeated migrations of M. columbi from the mainland to the islands. No M. exilis remains have been discovered on the mainland. In 2009 additional efforts to date the Columbian mammoth remains were initiated, to ascertain whether they were: 1) contemporary with the pygmy mammoths; 2) represented remnants of the founding population; or 3) represented late migration from the North American mainland.

Complete Columbian mammoth mitogenome suggests interbreeding with woolly mammoths.

BackgroundLate Pleistocene North America hosted at least two divergent and ecologically distinct species of mammoth: the periglacial woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and the subglacial Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi). To date, mammoth genetic research has been entirely restricted to woolly mammoths, rendering their genetic evolution difficult to contextualize within broader Pleistocene paleoecology and biogeography. Here, we take an interspecific approach to clarifying mammoth phylogeny by targeting Columbian mammoth remains for mitogenomic sequencing.ResultsWe sequenced the first complete mitochondrial genome of a classic Columbian mammoth, as well as the first complete mitochondrial genome of a North American woolly mammoth. Somewhat contrary to conventional paleontological models, which posit that the two species were highly divergent, the M. columbi mitogenome we obtained falls securely within a subclade of endemic North American M. primigenius.ConclusionsThough limited, our data suggest that the two species interbred at some point in their evolutionary histories. One potential explanation is that woolly mammoth haplotypes entered Columbian mammoth populations via introgression at subglacial ecotones, a scenario with compelling parallels in extant elephants and consistent with certain regional paleontological observations. This highlights the need for multi-genomic data to sufficiently characterize mammoth evolutionary history. Our results demonstrate that the use of next-generation sequencing technologies holds promise in obtaining such data, even from non-cave, non-permafrost Pleistocene depositional contexts.

Vertebrates of the Last Interglaciation in Canada: A Review, with New Data

Vertebrate fossils and faunas that are reasonably inferred to be of last (Sangamonian) interglacial age are considered in geographic order from east to west to north in Canada. Data on localities, vertebrate taxa, stratigraphy, geochronology, paleoenvironment and paleoclimate are considered. Information on key faunas from Toronto, Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatoon. Medicine Hat and Old Crow River is supplemented by data on smaller faunas and, in some cases, individual specimens. New data are included for several localities. Fishes, such as whitefish (Coregonus sp.) and pike (Esox sp.). had broad distributions from eastern to northwestern Canada. Except for a turtle (Emydoidea blandingi) from lnnerkip, Ontario, amphibians and reptiles have not yet been reported from Canada during the Sangamon Interglaciation. Several species of grouse-like birds (Tetraonidae) are known from western Canada. Among the mammals. American mastodons (Mammut americanum), mammoths (Mammuthus sp.), beavers (Castor canadensis), giant beavers (Castoroides ohioensis), muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), voles (Microtus sp.). white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), stag moose (Cervalces sp.), bison [perhaps mainly giant bison (Bison latifrons)\ and muskoxen (Ovibovini) were evidently most widespread during the last interglacial interval. The western plains had a characteristic large mammal fauna that included Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus columbi), Scott's horses (Equus scotti), small horses (Equus conversidens), western camels (Camelops hesternus). pronghorns (Antilocapridae), giant bison (Bison latifrons) and helmeted muskoxen (Sy m bos cavifrons).

A Partial Bison (Bison cf. B. latifrons) Skeleton from Chuchi Lake, and its Implications for the Middle Wisconsinan Environment of Central British Columbia

Fragmentary but massive left and right horncores, found with eight post-cranial bones, from a clay unit underlying a diamicton of the last (Fraser) glaciation at Chuchi Lake, British Columbia probably represents an individual giant bison (Bison cf. B. latifrons). A sample of bone from one of the horncores yielded an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon date of 30 740 ± 220 BP, whereas overlapping dates from two other laboratories on an associated humerus are 34 800 ± 420 BP and 35 480 ± 1080 BP. Despite the discrepancy between horncore and humerus dates, they are in accord with the suspected stratigraphie age of the clay unit whence they came. Analysis of pollen from that clay unit indicates that bison with massive horns once occupied an open forest in the vicinity. Probably giant bison and Columbian mammoths (incorporating paleoenvironmental evidence found with the nearby, penecontemporaneous Babine Lake mammoth) shared lake-dotted open forest to shrub tundra range in what is now central British Columbia toward the close of the Middle Wisconsinan (Olympia Nonglacial Interval). The Chuchi Lake specimen is important because it is the first indication of giant bison from British Columbia, and it appears to be one of the latest known survivors of this species.

Geographic and temporal trends in proboscidean and human radiocarbon histories during the late Pleistocene

The causes of large animal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene remain a hotly debated topic focused primarily on the effects of human over hunting and climate change. Here we examine multiple, large radiocarbon data sets for humans and extinct proboscideans and explore how variation in their temporal and geographic distributions were related prior to proboscidean extinction. These data include 4532 archaeological determinations from Europe and Siberia and 1177 mammoth and mastodont determinations from Europe, Siberia, and North America. All span the period from 45,000 to 12,000 calendar years BP. We show that while the geographic ranges of dated human occupations and proboscidean remains overlap across the terminal Pleistocene of the Old World, the two groups remain largely segregated and increases in the frequency of human occupations do not coincide with declines in proboscidean remains. Prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca 21,000 years BP), archaeological 14C determinations increase slightly in frequency worldwide while the frequency of dated proboscidean remains varies depending on taxon and location. After the LGM, both sympatric and allopatric groups of humans and proboscideans increase sharply as climatic conditions ameliorate. Post-LGM radiocarbon frequencies among proboscideans peak at different times, also depending upon taxon and location. Woolly mammoths in Beringia reach a maximum and then decline beginning between 16,000 and 15,500 years BP, woolly mammoths in Europe and Siberia ca 14,500 and 13,500 BP, and Columbian mammoth and American mastodont only after 13,000 BP. Declines among woolly mammoths appear to coincide with the restructuring of biotic communities following the Pleistocene–Holocene transition.