Horn Size Comparison Between Bubalus arnee and Bison latifrons

Some species of extant megafauna demonstrate how impressive similar extinct species were. Asian water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) weigh up to 2600 pounds, and their horn span averages 3 feet long. The individual in the below photo has an horn span of about double the size of the average. The largest known horn span of an Asian water buffalo was from a specimen shot in 1955–it had an astounding horn span of 13 feet 10 inches. The extinct long-horned bison (Bison latfrons) had horn spans up to 7 feet long, but it seems likely the largest individuals had horn spans even longer than the record specimen of Asian water buffalo shot during 1955. Long-horned bison are estimated to have reached weights between 2700-4400 pounds–significantly heavier than Asian water buffalo–and if these estimates are accurate, some individuals probably had horn spans exceeding 14 feet long.

Asian water buffalo (Bubalus arnee). Their horn span averages 3 feet, but this animal has an horn span that is close to twice that long. I found this photo on Twitter. I don’t know who took it.

I took this photo of a Bison latifrons specimen at the Georgia College Museum in Milledgeville, Georgia. This specimen was found near Brunswick, Georgia and dates to 24,000 years ago. This species evolved into Bison antiquus during the Last Glacial Maximum. B. antiquus evolved into modern Bison (B. bison) after the end of the last Ice Age.

The Asian water buffalo has been classified as endangered since 1986. There are only 4000 left. They are found in small herds in 8 protected areas in India, 1 in Nepal, 1 in Bhutan, 1 in Thailand, and 1 in Cambodia. They are thought by many to be the ancestors of domesticated water buffalo, an animal used for pulling plows before the era of mechanization. Asian water buffalo prefer to live in swamps and marshes, and their hooves are wide and don’t sink in muddy ground, giving them superior performance in farm labor compared to a plain old ox. They also produce a richer milk than cows, and cheese-makers use their milk to make Mozzarella. Domesticated water buffalo have escaped from captivity in Australia, parts of Asia, Argentina, and Bolivia where they thrive on grass, sedges, fruit, bark, and twigs in wetlands. A species of European water buffalo became extinct about 10,000 years ago.

The ancestor of the long-horned bison crossed the Bering Land Bridge and colonized North America a little less than 300,000 years ago, marking the beginning of the Rancholabrean Land Mammal Age. They inhabited open woodland and prairie. Their long horns were a defense against big cats such as saber-tooths, giant lions, and jaguars (just like water buffalos use their horns to fend off tigers and lions). During the Last Glacial Maximum ((~21,000 years BP-~15,000 years BP) long-horned bison evolved into a smaller animal with shorter horns known as B. antiquus. This was likely in response to reduced quality of food and water sources. Following the arrival of man in North America, B. antiquus evolved into the even smaller but more mobile and migratory modern bison (B. bison). Instead of long horns and large bodies to battle big cats, bison needed longer legs, so they could run away from wolf packs and man.

Arthritic Glyptodonts

I am lucky so far. I am 59 years old and don’t feel arthritic yet, but my father was about my age when he first suffered from arthritis. The incurable disease forced him to give up playing tennis because his hand hurt too much when he tried to return a shot. About 50 million adults and 300,000 children suffer from arthritis. There are over 100 types of arthritis. The 4 most common include degenerative, infectious, inflammatory, and metabolic. Degenerative arthritis is caused by cartilage wearing away so that 2 different bones rub against each other at the joint. Bacteria cause infectious arthritis, and inflammatory arthritis is the result of the immune system turning against itself following an infection. Metabolic arthritis is caused by uric acid build up. This is the kind my dad had, and he also used to suffer terrible attacks of gout–a related condition.

Man isn’t the only animal that suffers from arthritis. Other primates, elephants, bears, and extinct ground sloths are known to be susceptible to the disease. Paleontologists examining bones of extinct glyptodonts found evidence of arthritic joints. Glyptodonts are related to armadillos. A recent genetic study found their closest living relative was the tiny pink fairy armadillo–an ironic discovery because fairy armadillos are so small, and glyptodonts weighed several tons. However, glyptodonts diverged from armadillos about 35 million years ago. The main difference between armadillos and glyptodonts is the shell. Armadillo shells in most species are flexible, and they can curl up in a ball when threatened. Glyptodonts had stiff turtle-like shells. The arthritic glyptodont bones were found in a limestone cave near Lajeda de Ecole, Brazil. Glyptodonts ranged throughout South America and into the southern parts of North America including coastal Georgia. The arthritic glyptodont specimen found in Brazil suffered from calcium pyrophosphate disease, a complication of spondyloarthropy. This disease is known as false gout because it is similar to gout, though the physiological cause differs. The specimen’s arthritis was in its arm and leg joints.

3 different species of glyptodonts compared to an average-sized man. I found this image on google. I don’t know who the original creator was.

Glyptodont joints with arthritis. Image from the below referenced paper.

Arthritic glyptodonts may have been more vulnerable to predators. When attacked, glyptodonts quickly turned around and swung their tails which in some species were clubbed. A glyptodont slowed by arthritis may have been too sluggish to swing their tail in time. Scientists found 1 specimen of arthritic glyptodont with gnaw marks from an extinct dog known as Protocyon trogylodytes. This predator may have killed the aged glyptodont or perhaps it scavenged an animal that died of old age.

References:

Aurauj-Junior, H. ; et. al.

“Overlapping Paleoinchnology, Paleoecology, and Taphonomy: Analysis of Tooth Traces in Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Megafaunal Assemblage of Brazil and Description of New Ichnology in Hard Substrate”

Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, and Paleoecology 468 2017

Barbosa, F. ; et. al.

“Arthritis in a Glyptodont (Mammalia, Xenartha, Cintulata)”

Plos One Feb 2014

Pleistocene Megaherbivores of India

388 species of land mammals occur in India today, including 15 species of flying squirrels, 20 species of bovids, 18 species of deer, 16 species of cats, 19 species of monkeys, and 3 species of apes.  The diversity of habitats in India from high mountains to desert plains with subtropical forests and mangrove swamps in between supports this great variety of mammals.  Africa has 1100 land and marine species of mammals and Pleistocene North America had 540, but they are whole continents.  India is just a subcontinent.  Compared to North America but like Africa, India didn’t suffer many late Pleistocene extinctions.  However, there were a few notable species that became extinct or extirpated in India.

Gelada baboons (Theropithecus gelades) today are restricted to the Ethiopian Highlands, but fossil evidence from the Billasugrun Cave Complex showed they formerly ranged into India.  Ostriches also formerly extended their range into India during the Pleistocene, but no longer occur there.

Gelada baboons are restricted to the Ethiopian Highlands today, but during the Pleistocene their range extended into India.

Today, Asiatic elephants still live in India, but during the Pleistocene 2 additional species of elephants occurred in India–the Asian straight-tusked elephant (Paleoloxodon namadicus) and stegodon (Stegodon namadicus).  The former may have been the largest land mammal to ever live on earth.  Both species went extinct about 30,000 years ago when men began using projectile weapons.

Scientists think the Asian straight-tusked elephant may have been the largest land mammal ever.  It became extinct in India soon after humans began using projectile weapons ~30,000 years ago.

Stegodon namadicus.  The fossil record suggests it was formerly more abundant than the Asiatic elephant.  It too became extinct about the time man began using projectile weapons.

The pygmy hippo (Hexaprotodon) lasted in India until about 16,000 years ago.  There still is plenty of available habitat for pygmy hippos in India today, so man must be responsible for the disappearance of this species.  An horse (Equus namadicus) became extinct in India.  I can’t find much about this species, and I think it may have been the same species as the modern horse.  The wild ancestor of modern cattle (Bos namadicus) also vanished from India during the late Pleistocene, but its domesticated descendants are extremely abundant now.

African pygmy hippo.  A species of pygmy hippo lasted in India until about 16,000 years ago when humans wiped them out.

The gaur along with Asiatic elephants and Indian rhinos are still extant but endangered in India.

Scientists hypothesize India suffered fewer end Pleistocene extinctions than elsewhere because the animals there slowly co-evolved with man and learned to be wary of us.  They think this allowed for a robust population network in climatic refugia that could then rebound following local extirpations.  While this might be partially true, I have a different hypothesis.  I propose that in India (and Africa) tropical diseases and tribal warfare kept human populations relatively low.  Large tracts of land remained uninhabited for centuries.  These were the refugia that allowed animal populations to rebound and replenish regions with diminished or extirpated populations.  The Hindu religion’s reverence for life originated at least 6300 years ago and may be an additional factor in the persistence of abundant wildlife on the Indian subcontinent.  When India’s population of humans eventually did increase, the Hindu religion prevented the wonton slaughter of wildlife that plagued other regions such as China where tigers and elephants have been wiped out.

References:

Jukar, A.; S. Lyons, P. Wagner, M. Uhen

“Late Pleistocene Extinctions in the Indian Subcontinent”

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 562 (15) 2020

Roberts, P.; et. al.

“Continuity of Mammalian Fauna over the Last 200,000 Years in the Indian Subcontinent”

PNAS 111 (16) 2014

Ancient Bear Hybridization

It’s always surprising when studies of an animal’s genetic history yield unexpected results, and the latest look at spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) DNA is no exception.  The study (referenced below) examined 3 specimens of the extinct giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus) and 1 specimen of the extinct Arctotherium sp. and compared their genetics with that of the extant spectacled bear.  The giant short-faced bear specimens came from the Yukon and Alaska and dated to ~47,000 years BP and ~24,000 years BP.  The Arctotherium specimen came from Chile and dated to 12,000 years BP.  Although Arctotherium anatomically resembled A. simus, results of the study determined the 2 species never interbred.  The giant short-faced bear was a North American species, and Arctotherium was a South American species, but their ranges did overlap in Mexico.  However, the study indicated the extinct Arctotherium did hybridize with the extant spectacled bear during the late Pleistocene.  Both are South American species  and their ranges did overlap extensively.  This is a surprising result because scientists estimate the ancestor of the spectacled bear diverged from the ancestor of Arctotherium about 3.6 million years ago, and they were quite distinct species.

Spectacled bear–the only extant tremarctine bear.  Genetic evidence from a new study suggests they occasionally interbred with the extinct Arctotherium bears during the late Pleistocene and they also interbred with the common ancestor of modern grizzly and black bears during the Pliocene.

Artist’s depiction of the extinct Arctotherium.

The study produced an additional surprising result, but before I discuss this I need to digress and explain the 2 lineages of bears.  Ursine bears (black, grizzly, polar, Asiatic black, sun, and sloth) diverged from tremarctine bears about 10 million years ago.  The spectacled bear is the only tremarctine bear still extant, but during the late Pleistocene there were 3 additional species including the giant short-faced, Arctotherium, and the Florida spectacled bear (T. floridanus).  Results of this study suggests the ancestor of the South American spectacled bear did hybridize with the common ancestor of the black bear and grizzly bear.  The ancestor of black bears diverged from the ancestor of grizzly bears at least 1.5 million years ago, so this hybridization event likely occurred during the Pliocene.  The giant short-faced bears and Arctotherium never hybridized with ursine bears, but different species of ursine bears hybridized with each other numerous times.

In the future it would be interesting to see the results of a genetic study of T. floridanus.  The Florida spectacled bear ranged throughout southeastern North America during the Pleistocene and it shared the range with black bears.  Did these 2 species ever hybridize?

Reference:

Salis, A.; et. al.

“Ancient Genomes Reveal Hybridization between Extinct Short-faced bears and the Extant Spectacled Bear (T. ornatus)

BioRxiv Feb 2021

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.05.429853v1

Some Pleistocene caribou (Rangifer tarandus) Gorged on Seaweed

Seaweed is an healthy dietary supplement for ruminants (animals that chew their cud).  Sheep in Scotland, reindeer in Norway, and caribou living along the coast of Alaska eat seaweed that washes up on the shore.  However, seaweed is seldom more than 5% of their diet.  If a caribou or sheep eats too much seaweed, they ingest too much salt and suffer diarrhea. A diet of mostly seaweed is not optimal.

Scientists recently analyzed a 45,000 year old caribou antler found on Haida Gwaii Island located off the coast of British Columbia.  They determined through an analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the amino acids that seaweed made up between 23%-41% of this individual’s diet.  The authors of this study think weather conditions forced this caribou into a suboptimal diet.  Normally, caribou feed upon birch and willow twigs and leaves, sedges, and mushrooms during summer; and lichen and dried sedges during winter.  They are capable of removing snow cover with their hooves, but they have difficulty breaking through icy snow when it covers their feeding grounds.  Apparently, icy snow covered this caribou’s prime feeding grounds, and it had to subsist on kelp washed on shore.  This caribou did live during a cold stage of the Wisconsinian Ice Age.

Map of Haida Gwaii Island, location of the 45,000 year old caribou specimen analyzed by scientists.  During the Ice Age the island was larger.  The coast of British Columbia and Alaska served as a glacial refuge for western caribou because most of their present day range was under glacial ice.  Caribou also roamed as far south as South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama during the Ice Age.

Svalbard reindeer feeding upon washed up kelp.  Reindeer are the same species as caribou.

North American caribou

Kelp washing up on shore was an important item in the diet of at least 1 caribou 45,000 years ago.

Cladonia rangerfina–a lichen.  This is a common winter food for caribou over much of their range.  Lichen are a symbiotic organism–a fungus with algae and/or cyannobacteria living in it.

Caribou roamed far down the eastern seaboard during the Ice Age.  Caribou fossils have been found as far south as Charleston, South Carolina, and their bones are often dredged up in fishing nets off the coast of North Carolina.  Caribou bones have also been excavated from caves in north Alabama and north Georgia.  Caribou probably migrated seasonally in eastern North America, and the route of some herds likely included an area along the Atlantic Coast that is now ocean but was dry land during the Ice Age.  I wonder if eastern caribou some times ate seaweed as well.  There are specimens that scientists could study to answer this question.

I also wonder what else caribou ate when they lived farther south during the Ice Age.  Lichen is a present day favorite food, and there are 17,000 different species of lichen worldwide.  Lichens are symbiotic organisms consisting of a fungus with algae and/or cyannobacteria.  The fungus gets nutrients from the woody or rocky substrate but also gets nutrients from the photosynthesis of the algae or cyannobacteria.  Nevertheless, I don’t think lichen was an important food source for eastern Ice Age caribou.  There were probably better quality foods available in the richer woodlands and grasslands of the east.

Reference:

Kubiak, C; R. Mathewes, J. Grimes, G. Biesen, and M. Rochester

“Evidence of a Significant Marine Plant Diet in a Pleistocene Caribou from Haida Gwaii, British Columbia”

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology 564 Feb 2021

Middle Pleistocene Man (Homo heidelbergensis)

Many late Pleistocene animals evolved from middle Pleistocene ancestors that were different enough to be considered separate species.  Columbian mammoths (Mammuthus colombi) evolved from the southern mammoth (M. meridionalis), a shorter elephant with straighter tusks. Jefferson’s ground sloth (Megalonyx jeffersoni) evolved from Wheatley’s ground sloth (M. wheatleyi), and Smilodon fatalis evolved from the more lightly built S. gracilis, among many other examples.  The same is true for humans.  Both Homo sapiens and H. neanderthalis evolved from H. heidelbergensis, also known as Heidelberg man after discovery of the first specimen in Heidelberg, Germany during 1907.  Genetic evidence suggests modern humans diverged from Neanderthals between 750,000 years BP-550,000 years BP.  The population of Heidelberg man that lived in Europe evolved into H. neanderthalis, while the population of Heidelberg man that lived in Africa evolved into H. sapiens.  (The poorly known Denisovans diverged from Neanderthals.) Fossil evidence of Heidelberg man dates to between 600,000 years BP-300,000 years BP, though undoubtedly it occurred earlier than the fossil evidence indicates.  The oldest evidence of humans in Europe dates to 800,000 years ago and was found in Spain, but these specimens are considered an extinct sister species of Heidelberg man known as H. ancessor.

Artist’s depiction of Homo heidelbergensis.  They were about the same height as modern men and had the same average brain capacity, but their jaws were distinctly different.

The Schoningen spears, 330,000 year old projectile weapons used by Homo heidelbergensis.  They were found in a strip mine in Germany.  Archaeologists found 9 spears, 1 lance, a stick pointed on both ends, and a burned stick along with the remains of butchered horses next to a lakeshore.

Heidelberg man evolved from H. erectus.  Heidelberg man had a more human-like face and a larger brain capacity (averaging 1200 cc compared to 973 cc).  They had the same average brain size as modern day humans, and the main difference between the 2 is the shape of the jaw which was distinct.  Heidelberg man was the first species of human to colonize regions with cold climates.  To survive in harsher climates, they evolved to eat more meat.  In Europe this diet included elephant, rhino, bear, deer, boar, and horse; and in Africa they ate antelope and zebra.  They surely ate many different kinds of plants, but nothing is known of the vegetal part of their diet.  Heidelberg man had control of fire and used tools such as stone hand axes and wooden spears. In 1994 nine spears made of spruce wood were found in a German strip mine, and they dated to 330,000 years BP.  They are known as the Schoningen spears, and they were found associated with butchered horse bones.  Rapid rise of a lake level covered all this evidence in sediment and helped preserve it.

I have no doubt Heidelberg man could speak, though a minority of scientific opinion believes they could not.  The hyoid bone, important for speech, is well developed as are the middle ear bones used for understanding speech.  There is also evidence for right brain/left brain lateralization–one side of the brain is more dominant.  Brain lateralization suggests a brain used to speak and understand speech.  Heidelberg man hunted large mammals, an activity requiring cooperative hunting and therefore speech.

Specimens of Heidelberg man have been found in sites located in Germany, England, France, Greece, India, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Africa.  I tried to find out exactly how many specimens have been discovered worldwide, but as far as I can determine no study has catalogued them all.

Heidelberg man likely occurred in low population numbers, fluctuating with boom and bust climatic conditions, and whole tribes often perished  when important members died.  One site in Germany where Heidelberg remains were found also yielded bones of saber-tooths (Homotherium), lions, leopards, hyenas, bear, elephant, red deer, and horse.  Unlike modern humans, Heidelberg man didn’t always win in competition with the predators they shared the landscape with.

Reference:

Schoch, W.; G. Bigga, W. bohner, P. Richter, and T. Terberger

“New Insights on the Wooden Weapons from the Paleolithic Site of Schoningen”

Journal of Human Evolution 89 December 2015

Did Some Species of Giant Ground Sloths Live in Herds?

At least 22 giant ground sloths (Eremotherium laurillardi) perished in a pond polluted with their own feces over 18,000 years ago.  Scientists excavating this site found 667 vertebrate bones of which 575 were identified as belonging to Eremotherium.  These included the remains of at least 16 adults, 6 subadults, and 1 juvenile.  Fossil feces and gut contents were found alongside the bones.  The site, known as Tanque Loma, is located in Southwestern Ecuador.  Eremotherium was the largest of the extinct ground sloths, roughly the size of an African elephant, and they ranged from South America into southern North America, though they disappeared from the northern part of their range during the Last Glacial Maximum when the climate got too cold for them there.  Eremotherium bones show up in most coastal fossil sites in Georgia.  Fossil sites mostly composed of Eremotherium bones occur in Florida, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay; and the circumstances of these mass death sites may be the same.  Large groups of Eremotheriums, attracted to shrinking water holes during droughts, congregated there until they poisoned the water with great quantities of their feces.  The entire group then died within a few days, explaining the mass accumulation of mostly 1 species.  Modern hippos in Africa often suffer the same fate today.

Illustration of Eremotherium along with other Pleistocene animals.  Painting by the late Charles Knight.  Eremotherium may have been less hairy, like humans and elephants.  They were also larger than this illustration indicates.

Mass hippo deaths can occur when they contaminate the water they live in with their own feces.

Some scientists think the occurrence of different age groups at these mass death sites indicates Eremotherium lived in herds.  I doubt this can be determined.  It seems more likely they were simply attracted to the same resource.  Caves accumulate ground sloth remains as well because they were a resource that provided shelter for an animal that had difficulty controlling its body temperature.  Water holes and food items were resources that attracted ground sloths to the same spot, and many of the mothers just happened to be accompanied by young, but they were not necessarily living in organized herds.

Remains of other species found at Tanque Loma include Glossotherium (a smaller probably hairier species of ground sloth), pampathere (a giant armadillo), an extinct species of horse, and a deer related to the modern day whitetail.

Note to paleoecologists:  Nobody has yet studied the plant species composition of the sloth feces and gut contents found here.

Reference:

Lindsey, E.; et. al.

“A Monodominant Late-Pleistocene Megafauna Locality from Santa Elena, Ecuador: Insight on the Biology and Behavior of Giant Ground Sloths”

Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, and Paleoecology 544 April 15, 2020

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338565424_A_monodominant_late-Pleistocene_megafauna_locality_from_Santa_Elena_Ecuador_Insight_on_the_biology_and_behavior_of_giant_ground_sloths

A Shocking New Study of Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) DNA

Dire wolves were one of the most common large predators of Late Pleistocene North America, and sub-fossils of this species are common, but scientists have had difficulty finding specimens with enough intact DNA to analyze.  There are thousands of dire wolf fossils excavated from the La Brea Tar Pits in California, but this DNA is contaminated with tar and can’t be used.  There are also many specimens of dire wolf fossils from Florida, but the humidity there causes DNA to deteriorate and become unusable.  However, Angela Perri, a zooarchaeologist from Durham University, made a concerted effort to find dire wolf specimens with enough viable DNA to study, and she found 5 specimens.  Labs from Australia and England analyzed the DNA from these specimens and came to a stunning conclusion–dire wolves were not closely related to gray wolves (Canis lupus) as most paleontologists had assumed, and they were not really even wolves.  Instead, they were the last in a lineage of now extinct ancient canids.

Cave Paintings of Megafauna in the Amazon Rain Forest

Archaeologists have been studying ancient paintings on cave and rock shelter walls in Cheribiquete National Park for over 30 years, but last year they discovered an 8 mile stretch that includes rare images of extinct megafauna.  Cheribiquete National Park is located in Colombia and covers 17,000 square miles–the largest tropical forest park in the world.  The newly discovered rock shelter walls are illustrated with images of a giant ground sloth and young, horse, llama, macrauchenia, gompothere, and perhaps bear.  An extinct species of horse known as hippidion lived in South America over 10,000 years ago.  The llama depicted on the wall maybe an extinct or extant species.  All the images are crudely drawn and don’t depict adequate details to distinguish species identification.  These may be the only images of a gompothere and macrauchenia that have ever been drawn by people who actually saw them alive.  Gompotheres were a mastodon-like animal, similar to elephants, but nothing like a macrauchenia lives today.  Their closest living relatives are rhinos, horses, and tapirs; but genetic evidence suggests they diverged from those odd toed ungulates 66 million years ago when dinosaurs became extinct.  Macrauchenia were adaptable animals capable of living in many different kinds of habitats, and they likely occupied a giraffe-like ecological niche because they had long necks.  Fossil remains of macrauchenia are not found anywhere near Cheribiquete National Park, showing how inadequate the fossil record is.

Rock art paintings of pre-historic megafauna.  The art work is poor, but I think they depict a ground sloth and young, gompothere (an animal similar to a mastodon), a llama, an horse, and a bear or another ground sloth?, and a macrauchenia.  It looks like a man is hunting the gompothere (a juvenile?) with a club or atlatl.  It also looks like a man has his armed raised at the ground sloth, but the atlatl isn’t drawn.  In another image it looks like the man is stabbing the bear in the side.

The Natives must have used ladders to paint these figures on some of the rock shelters.  They are much higher than a human can reach.  Archaeologists used drones to photograph some of them.

Archaeologists suggest the natives scaled the high rock shelter walls to paint these images.  I think it is more likely they used ladders to reach these heights.  The paintings are thought to vary in age from about 15,000 years BP to the 16th century.  Apparently, natives stopped painting walls shortly after European contact perhaps because the culture shock of this interaction destroyed American civilizations.  The paintings themselves can’t be radio-carbon dated because the substance used was inorganic.  European cave paintings were drawn with charcoal and can be radio-carbon dated.

Some of the articles reporting this discovery are written by people who assume the presence of the animals depicted on the rock shelter walls is evidence of a different local environment during the Late Pleistocene than occurs there today.  This is not necessarily true.  Macrauchenia was a generalist species, and gompotheres likely preferred dense forests.  Clearings in the forest created by gompothere foraging may have sustained populations of horses and llamas.

In addition to the extensive rock shelter drawings, Cheribiquete National Park is home to 82 species of mammals (52 of them bats), an astonishing 410 species of birds, 60 species of reptiles, 57 species of amphibians, 238 species of fish, and over 200 species of butterflies.  Notable animals include jaguars, cougars, monkeys, armadillos, peccaries, tapirs, scarlet macaws, emerald hummingbirds, and harpy eagles.  The park has great potential as a tourist destination.  Unfortunately, it is also an hideout for thousands of FARC rebels.  FARC is an organization that basically is a bunch of communist gangsters who kidnap people for ransom and sell cocaine.  FARC battled the Colombian government for 40 years before finally signing a peace agreement recently, but the region is still not safe enough for tourism.

Mastodon Ranges Fluctuated with Climate Changes

When I first began my blog I was unsure of my writing, so I submitted samples to an internet forum at absolutewrite.com.  One person criticized me for being redundant when I wrote about mammoths and mastodons because he wrongly assumed I was referring to the same animal.  I explained they were 2 completely different species: mastodons were a semi-aquatic animal that mostly ate leaves, twigs, and fruit; while mammoths were an upland species that mostly ate grass.  The lead author of a new study of mastodon genetics admitted he had the same misconception prior to studying the mastodon genome.  Emil Karpinski is a geneticist not a paleontologist, and his false assumption is understandable. Karpinski and his colleagues sequenced the complete genomes of 33 individual mastodon specimens and the partial genomes from an additional 12 individual specimens.  They found 5 major clades from different geographical locations including Alaska, Yukon, Alberta/Missouri, Mexico, and Virginia/Great Lakes.  A single specimen from Nova Scotia indicates the possible discovery of a 6th clade.  Genomes of mastodons from Alberta suggest a mixture of 3 different clades.  This region was a migratory corridor between the Cordilleran and Laurentide Glaciers during interglacial climate phases when Ice Sheets retreated.  Different populations came into contact here when mastodons expanded their range north during interglacials.

Image showing how mastodon ranges expanded during interglacials and contracted during Ice Ages.  Southern mastodons were more genetically diverse than northern mastodons because northern populations were extirpated during every Ice Age.  From the below reference.

Map showing location of mastodon specimens used in the genetic study.  Also from the below reference.

The genetic evidence clearly shows mastodons expanded their range into Canada and Alaska between Ice Ages, and the expansions occurred at least twice, probably more.  Spruce forests and wetlands in Alaska converted into dry grassland during Ice Ages–unsuitable habitat for a semi-aquatic species.  And of course Canada was covered with thick glacial ice–inhospitable to most life.

The authors of this paper express bafflement over why mastodons did not recolonize Alaska and Canada following the last Ice Age.  Wetlands and spruce forests expanded when glaciers retreated and left behind meltwater lakes and bogs.  The answer is obvious and no mystery at all.  Men disrupted mastodon migration routes and overhunted them to extinction.  Large areas of suitable mastodon habitat exist today all over North America, but they are devoid of these massive beasts because they could not co-exist with increasing human populations.

Reference:

Karpinski, E.; et. al.

“American Mastodon Mitochondrial Genomes Suggest Multiple Dispersal Events in Response to Pleistocene Climate Oscillations”

Nature Communications 11 Article 4048 (2020) 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17893-z