Nursing, weaning, and tooth development in woolly mammoths from Old Crow, Yukon, Canada: Implications for Pleistocene extinctions

作者：Metcalfe Jessica Z^*; Longstaffe Fred J; Zazula Grant D

来源：Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2010, 298(3-4): 257-270.

DOI：10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.09.032

• Stable isotopes
• Trace elements
• Carbon
• Nitrogen
• Oxygen
• Strontium
• Barium
• Nursing
• Weaning
• Predation risk
• Mammoth
• Mammuthus primigenius
• Extinction
• Old Crow
• Yukon

This study investigates differences in the delta C-13(col), delta N-15, delta C-13(sc), delta O-18(sc), Sr/Ca, and Ba/Ca values of juvenile and adult woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) from Old Crow, Yukon, Canada. The data indicate that nursing in woolly mammoths lasted at least three years, and was associated with minimal decreases in delta C-13(col) (similar to 0.2 parts per thousand), large decreases in delta C-13(sc) (similar to 1.5 parts per thousand), and large increases in delta N-15 (similar to 2 parts per thousand) and delta O-18(sc) (similar to 2 parts per thousand) values. Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios suggest that woolly mammoth juveniles began consuming plant foods between 2 and 3 "African Elephant Years" of age, much later than the initiation of weaning in modern elephants. We hypothesize that delayed weaning was an adaptation to increased predation risk and decreased food quality/quantity during the extended hours of darkness that occur in winter at high latitudes. Prolonged nursing and delayed weaning may have made mammoths particularly vulnerable to climatic stressors or human hunting.

• 出版日期2010-12-15