Mammoths and Mastodons
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Open Thesis Final V2.Pdf
The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of the Geosciences TAXONOMIC AND ECOLOGIC IMPLICATIONS OF MAMMOTH MOLAR MORPHOLOGY AS MEASURED VIA COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY A Thesis in Geosciences by Gregory J Smith 2015 Gregory J Smith Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science August 2015 ii The thesis of Gregory J Smith was reviewed and approved* by the following: Russell W. Graham EMS Museum Director and Professor of the Geosciences Thesis Advisor Mark Patzkowsky Professor of the Geosciences Eric Post Director of the Polar Center and Professor of Biology Timothy Ryan Associate Professor of Anthropology and Information Sciences and Technology Michael Arthur Professor of the Geosciences Interim Associate Head for Graduate Programs and Research *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Two Late Pleistocene species of Mammuthus, M. columbi and M. primigenius, prove difficult to identify on the basis of their third molar (M3) morphology alone due to the effects of dental wear. A newly-erupted, relatively unworn M3 exhibits drastically different characters than that tooth would after a lifetime of wear. On a highly-worn molar, the lophs that comprise the occlusal surface are more broadly spaced and the enamel ridges thicken in comparison to these respective characters on an unworn molar. Since Mammuthus taxonomy depends on the lamellar frequency (# of lophs/decimeter of occlusal surface) and enamel thickness of the third molar, given the effects of wear it becomes apparent that these taxonomic characters are variable throughout the tooth’s life. Therefore, employing static taxonomic identifications that are based on dynamic attributes is a fundamentally flawed practice. -
Teacher Guide: Meet the Proboscideans
Teacher Guide: Meet the Proboscideans Concepts: • Living and extinct animals can be classified by their physical traits into families and species. • We can often infer what animals eat by the size and shape of their teeth. Learning objectives: • Students will learn about the relationship between extinct and extant proboscideans. • Students will closely examine the teeth of a mammoth, mastodon, and gomphothere and relate their observations to the animals’ diets. They will also contrast a human’s jaw and teeth to a mammoth’s. This is an excellent example of the principle of “form fits function” that occurs throughout biology. TEKS: Grade 5 § 112.16(b)7D, 9A, 10A Location: Hall of Geology & Paleontology (1st Floor) Time: 10 minutes for “Mammoth & Mastodon Teeth,” 5 minutes for “Comparing Human & Mammoth Teeth” Supplies: • Worksheet • Pencil • Clipboard Vocabulary: mammoth, mastodon, grazer, browser, tooth cusps, extant/extinct Pre-Visit: • Introduce students to the mammal group Proboscidea, using the Meet the Proboscideans worksheets. • Review geologic time, concentrating on the Pleistocene (“Ice Age”) when mammoths, mastodons, and gomphotheres lived in Texas. • Read a short background book on mammoths and mastodons with your students: – Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age by Cheryl Bardoe, published in 2010 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York, NY. Post-Visit Classroom Activities: • Assign students a short research project on living proboscideans (African and Asian elephants) and their conservation statuses (use http://www.iucnredlist.org/). Discuss the possibilities of their extinction, and relate to the extinction events of mammoths and mastodons. Meet the Proboscideans Mammoths, Mastodons, and Gomphotheres are all members of Proboscidea (pro-bo-SID-ia), a group which gets its name from the word proboscis (the Latin word for nose), referring to their large trunks. -
Distinguishing Extant Elephants Ivory from Mammoth Ivory Using a Short
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN Distinguishing extant elephants ivory from mammoth ivory using a short sequence of cytochrome b gene Jacob Njaramba Ngatia1, Tian Ming Lan2,3,4, Yue Ma1,5, Thi Dao Dinh1, Zhen Wang1,5, Thomas D. Dahmer6 & Yan Chun Xu1,5,7* Trade in ivory from extant elephant species namely Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) and African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is regulated internationally, while the trade in ivory from extinct species of Elephantidae, including woolly mammoth, is unregulated. This distinction creates opportunity for laundering and trading elephant ivory as mammoth ivory. The existing morphological and molecular genetics methods do not reliably distinguish the source of ivory items that lack clear identifcation characteristics or for which the quality of extracted DNA cannot support amplifcation of large gene fragments. We present a PCR-sequencing method based on 116 bp target sequence of the cytochrome b gene to specifcally amplify elephantid DNA while simultaneously excluding non-elephantid species and ivory substitutes, and while avoiding contamination by human DNA. The partial Cytochrome b gene sequence enabled accurate association of ivory samples with their species of origin for all three extant elephants and from mammoth. The detection limit of the PCR system was as low as 10 copy numbers of target DNA. The amplifcation and sequencing success reached 96.7% for woolly mammoth ivory and 100% for African savanna elephant and African forest elephant ivory. This is the frst validated method for distinguishing elephant from mammoth ivory and it provides forensic support for investigation of ivory laundering cases. -
Straight-Tusked Elephant (Palaeoloxodon Antiquus) and Other Megafauna in Europe
The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001 The Late Quaternary extinction of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and other megafauna in Europe A.J. Stuart, A.M. Lister Department of Biology, University College, London, UK [email protected] We are engaged in a research project (funded at present, it is apparent that these range changes by the Natural Environment Research Council - were not the same for each species; for example NERC) on megafaunal extinctions throughout the “last stands” of Mammuthus primigenius, Europe within the period ca. 50,000 to 9000 14C Megaloceros giganteus and Palaeoloxodon years BP. The work involves a survey of strati- antiquus appear to have been made in very dif- graphic information and available 14C dates, and ferent regions of Europe. Tracking these changes also sampling crucial material for a major involves firstly gathering data from the literature programme of AMS 14C dating. Both of the and from colleagues in each region. By these elephant species present in the European Late means we are building up an approximate pic- Pleistocene: Mammuthus primigenius and ture and specifying the likely latest material of Palaeoloxodon antiquus are included in the our target species for each region. In order to project. obtain a much more accurate database, we are Our target species include most of those that sampling the putatively latest material and sub- became extinct, or regionally extinct, after mitting it for 14C dating. ca. 15,000 BP: woolly mammoth Mammuthus Late Quaternary extinctions have been vari- primigenius, woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta ously attributed to overkill by human hunters antiquitatis; giant deer Megaloceros giganteus; (Martin 1984; Martin & Steadman 1999), to lion Panthera leo; and spotted hyaena Crocuta environmental changes (Graham & Lundelius crocuta. -
The Mastodonts of Brazil': the State of the Art of South American
Quaternary International 443 (2017) 52e64 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint Sixty years after ‘The mastodonts of Brazil’: The state of the art of South American proboscideans (Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae) * Dimila Mothe a, b, , Leonardo dos Santos Avilla a, c, Lidiane Asevedo a, d, Leon Borges-Silva a, Mariane Rosas e, Rafael Labarca-Encina f, Ricardo Souberlich g, Esteban Soibelzon h, i, Jose Luis Roman-Carrion j, Sergio D. Ríos k, Ascanio D. Rincon l, Gina Cardoso de Oliveira b, Renato Pereira Lopes m a Laboratorio de Mastozoologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Bioci^encias, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Pasteur, 458, 501, Urca, CEP 22290-240, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil b Programa de Pos-graduaç ao~ em Geoci^encias, Centro de Tecnologia e Geoci^encias, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Rua Acad^emico Helio Ramos, s/n, Cidade Universitaria, CEP 50740-467, Recife, Brazil c Programa de Pos-graduaç ao~ em Biodiversidade Neotropical, Instituto de Bioci^encias, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Pasteur, 458, 501, Urca, CEP 22290-240, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil d Faculdade de Geoci^encias (Fageo), Campus Cuiaba, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Av. Fernando Correa da Costa, 2367, Jardim Petropolis, CEP 78070-000, Cuiaba, Mato Grosso, Brazil e Laboratorio de Paleontologia, Centro de Ci^encias Agrarias, Ambientais e Biologicas, Universidade Federal do Reconcavo^ da Bahia, Cruz das Almas, Bahia, Brazil f Laboratorio de Paleoecología, Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile g Laboratorio de Paleontología, Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Acceso Av. -
The Woolly Mammoth
The Woolly Mammoth The Woolly Mammoth by Edward I. Maxwell The closest relative of the woolly mammoth is the Asian elephant. The main difference between the two is that the mammoth had an incredible coat of fur, made up of an outer layer of coarse "guard hair" with an inner layer of curly wool. The last known group of mammoths died off, or became extinct, around 4,000 years ago. The mammoth roamed the northern lands of the world during a period known as the Ice Age. It was among the largest land mammals to roam the earth. The mammoth was a tough beast and was able to endure extreme weather conditions and frigid temperatures. The mammoth shared these northern territories with other mammals during the Ice Age. The most important mammal to interact with the mammoth, however, was the human. When the mammoths were at their greatest numbers, humans mainly hunted animals and foraged for food. These hunters would follow herds of animals over incredibly long distances in order to hunt them. The woolly mammoth provided a great amount of food and other important things for these humans. The fur, for example, could be used to make coats and blankets that would help keep out the cold in the icy environment. Bones from the mammoth could be used to make tools and weapons. Because one mammoth provided so many useful things to a large group of people, early humans would follow the herds wherever they went. There is even a theory that the humans followed the mammoth over a land-bridge from Asia into the Americas. -
Educator Guide Presented by the Field Museum
at the San Diego Natural History Museum July 4-November 11, 2013 Educator Guide Presented by The Field Museum INSIDE: Exhibition Introduction • Planning Your Visit Gallery Overviews and Guiding Questions • Focused Field Trip Activities Correlations to California State Content Standards • Additional Resources Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age at the San Diego Natural History Museum is supported by: City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture County of San Diego Board of Supervisors, Community Enhancement Program Walter J. and Betty C. Zable Foundation Qualcomm Foundation The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation VWR Charitable Foundation Education Sponsor: The Field Museum gratefully acknowledges the collaboration and assistance of the Shemanovskii Regional Museum and Exhibition Complex and the International Mammoth Committee. Walking Map The Field Museum • Mammoths and Mastodons Educator Guide • fieldmuseum.org/mammoths Page 2 www.sdnhm.org/mammoths-mastodons Exhibition Introduction Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age July 4–November 11, 2013 Millions of years ago, colossal mammals roamed Europe, Asia, and North America. From the gigantic mammoth to the massive mastodon, these creatures have captured the world’s fascination. Meet “Lyuba,” the best-preserved baby mammoth in the world, and discover all that we’ve learned from her. Journey back to the Ice Age through monumental video installations, roam among saber-toothed cats and giant bears, and wonder over some of the oldest human artifacts in existence. Hands-on exciting interactive displays reveal the difference between a mammoth and a mastodon, This sketch shows a Columbian mammoth, an offer what may have caused their extinction, and show African elephant, and an American mastodon how today’s scientists excavate, analyze, and learn more (from back to front). -
(Mammut Americanum) from Fulton County, Indiana
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln USGS Staff -- Published Research US Geological Survey 1-2008 The Overmyer Mastodon (Mammut americanum) from Fulton County, Indiana Neal Woodman USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, [email protected] Jon W. Branstrator Earlham College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsstaffpub Woodman, Neal and Branstrator, Jon W., "The Overmyer Mastodon (Mammut americanum) from Fulton County, Indiana" (2008). USGS Staff -- Published Research. 581. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usgsstaffpub/581 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the US Geological Survey at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in USGS Staff -- Published Research by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. The American Midland Naturalist January 2008 : Vol. 159, Issue 1 (Jan 2008), pg(s) 125-146 Am. Midl. Nat. 159:125–146 The Overmyer Mastodon (Mammut americanum) from Fulton County, Indiana NEAL WOODMAN1 USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, National Museum of Natural History MRC-111, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013 AND JON W. BRANSTRATOR2 Geosciences Department, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana 47374 ABSTRACT.—In June 1978 the partial skeleton of an American mastodon, Mammut americanum, was salvaged from a drainage ditch in Fulton County, north-central Indiana. The remains were recovered mostly from ca. 170–260 cm below the current land surface in marl overlain by peat and peaty marl. The stratigraphy of the site indicates that the remains were deposited in a small, open-water pond that subsequently filled. The skeleton, which is 41–48% complete, is that of a mature female, ca. -
Columbian Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age
Name: __________________________________________________ Date: ______________ Columbian Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age Did you know not all mammoths were woolly mammoths? The woolly mammoth was just one of nearly a dozen different species of mammoths. Another species was the Columbian (pronounced “cuh-LUM-be-un”) mammoth. Columbian mammoths lived during the Pleistocene Epoch (“PLY-stuh-SEEN EP-uck”), sometimes called the Ice Age. The Pleistocene Epoch started 2.5 million years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago. Even though people call it the Ice Age, not all the world was covered in ice. Sheets of ice called glaciers (“GLAY-shurs”) covered most of what is now Canada and the northern United States, but the lands that became the southern United States and Mexico were not under ice. Columbian mammoths were grazers, or animals that eat mostly grass. To make sure they had enough to eat, they lived in savannas (“suh-VAN-uhs”). Savannas are warm grasslands with scattered trees, and they were away from the glaciers. This was different from the woolly mammoths, which lived closer to the glaciers in lands called steppes (“STEPS”), cool plains with shrubs, herbs, and a little grass. How big was a Columbian mammoth? Huge! They were about 14 feet tall, or 4.3 meters. They also weighed as much as 10 tons, the same as a school bus. This made them much bigger than woolly mammoths, which were about 10 feet tall (3 meters) and weighed 6 tons. So why were they called Columbian mammoths? Scientists use New Latin to name animals. In New Latin, “Columbia” means “land of Columbus”, or North America. -
Paleobiogeography of Trilophodont Gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea)
Revista Mexicana deTrilophodont Ciencias Geológicas, gomphotheres. v. 28, Anúm. reconstruction 2, 2011, p. applying235-244 DIVA (Dispersion-Vicariance Analysis) 235 Paleobiogeography of trilophodont gomphotheres (Mammalia: Proboscidea). A reconstruction applying DIVA (Dispersion-Vicariance Analysis) María Teresa Alberdi1,*, José Luis Prado2, Edgardo Ortiz-Jaureguizar3, Paula Posadas3, and Mariano Donato1 1 Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, España. 2 INCUAPA, Departamento de Arqueología, Universidad Nacional del Centro, Del Valle 5737, B7400JWI Olavarría, Argentina. 3 LASBE, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque S/Nº, B1900FWA La Plata, Argentina. * [email protected] ABSTRACT The objective of our paper was to analyze the distributional patterns of trilophodont gomphotheres, applying an event-based biogeographic method. We have attempted to interpret the biogeographical history of trilophodont gomphotheres in the context of the geological evolution of the continents they inhabited during the Cenozoic. To reconstruct this biogeographic history we used DIVA 1.1. This application resulted in an exact solution requiring three vicariant events, and 15 dispersal events, most of them (i.e., 14) occurring at terminal taxa. The single dispersal event at an internal node affected the common ancestor to Sinomastodon plus the clade Cuvieronius – Stegomastodon. A vicariant event took place which resulted in two isolated groups: (1) Amebelodontinae (Africa – Europe – Asia) and (2) Gomphotheriinae (North America). The Amebelodontinae clade was split by a second vicariant event into Archaeobelodon (Africa and Europe), and the ancestors of the remaining genera of the clade (Asia). In contrast, the Gomphotheriinae clade evolved mainly in North America. -
Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board Minutes of Regular
MAMMOTH LAKES TOURISM BOARD MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 2, 2019 CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chair John Morris called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m. ROLL CALL Chair John Morris, Vice Chair Scott McGuire, Secretary Jeremy Goico, and Board Members Matt Hammer, Mayor Pro Tem Lynda Salcido and Eric Clark were present. Treasurer Rhonda Duggan, and Board Members Kirk Schaubmayer and Michael Ledesma were absent. BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS Secretary Jeremy Goico announced that Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre's production of the Glass Menagerie opened on September 26 and would run through October 6th. Mayor Pro Tem Lynda Salcido said that the events emails she had received from MLT were great and thanked the staff for their efforts. Board Member Matt Hammer said that he had a fantastic time at Manxes in Mammoth Dune Buggy Event. Chair John Morris announced that there would be a Woodsite hearing on November 1 at 9:30 a.m. and said it would be an amended motion and settlement conference. Mr. Morris said that he enjoyed the various Mammoth music festivals in September and said he that attended the Millpond Music Festival in Bishop for the first time and it was great. He reported that the Snowcreek Golf Course had closed for the season and that he was looking forward to it opening again next June and thanked everyone that supported them. He also spoke about the holes along the roadsides throughout Town and said that they were part of the wayfinding signage project and that Phase 1 would be done in November. -
WIAS Discussion Paper No.2018-001 Proboscidean Fossils (Mammalia
WIAS Discussion Paper No.2018-001 Proboscidean fossils (Mammalia) from the Quaternary deposits on Stegodon Cave, Thungwa, Satun Province, southern Thailand November 23, 2018 Jaroon Duangkrayom Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University Yuichiro Nishioka Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University Chen Shaokun Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum Pratueng Jintasakul Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University Narongrit Thungprue Thungwa District Rattapong Worawansongkham Manang District 1-6-1 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8050, Japan Tel: 03-5286-2460 ; Fax: 03-5286-2470 WIAS Discussion Paper No.2018-001 --------------------------------------------- Proboscidean fossils (Mammalia) from the Quaternary deposits on Stegodon Cave, Thungwa, Satun Province, southern Thailand Jaroon Duangkrayom1, Yuichiro Nishioka2*, Chen Shaokun3, Pratueng Jintasakul1, Narongrit Thungprue4, Rattapong Worawansongkham5 Abstract The mammalian fossil assemblage was newly discovered from Quaternary deposits on Stegodon Cave, Thungwa District, Satun Province, southern Thailand. The fossil-bearing laterite is distributed on the floor throughout the cave, which had been possibly transported and reworked several times by tidal stream-flow in the cave, and yields many dental and bone fossils of mammals. The mammalian fossil assemblage is preliminarily classified into six genera belonging to three orders: Proboscidea (Stegodon, Elephas), Perissodactyla (Rhinoceros), and Artiodactyla (Bubalus, Capricornis, Cervus/Rusa). Stegodon molars have irregular enamel folding with scallop chevrons and low amplitude, which are similar to S. orientalis from East Asia rather than S. trigonocephalus from Java. Elephas sp. is indeterminate taxonomically in a species level, but it is somewhat more primitive than extant E. maximus, in having molars with thicker enamel, higher enamel amplitude folding, and lower number of laminae. These characteristics are observed in Pleistocene species of Elephas, such as E.