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Final Rpt on Paleo in Mammothcave Paleontological Inventory Project: Vertebrate Remains Found in Select Passages and Caves at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky by Mona L. Colburn Submitted by Illinois State Museum Springfield, IL Illinois State Museum Landscape History Program Technical Report No. 2005-1199-007 Submitted in partial fulfillment of Cooperative Agreement No. 1443 CA5530 97 003 between the National Park Service (U.S. Department of Interior) and the Illinois State Museum Society FINAL REPORT JULY 2005 Paleontological Inventory Project: Vertebrate Remains Found in Select Passages and Caves at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky by Mona L. Colburn Submitted by Illinois State Museum Springfield, IL Illinois State Museum Landscape History Program Technical Report No. 2005-1199-007 Submitted in partial fulfillment of Cooperative Agreement No. 1443 CA5530 97 003 between the National Park Service (U.S. Department of Interior) and the Illinois State Museum Society FINAL REPORT JULY 2005 Mona Colburn – Paleontological Inventory of Mammoth Cave 1 Vespertilio Whispers Bats in Dixon Cave, KY m. colburn Leathered limbs winging, Crepuscule insecticide devouring echoes Biocide echoes Vespertilio whispers, Silencing night song mona colburn, oct. 2002 Mona Colburn – Mammoth Cave Paleontological Inventory: Historic Section of Main Mammoth 2 Paleontological Inventory Project: Vertebrate Remains Found in Select Passages and Caves at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments 4 Project Background 7 Project Methodology 11 Chapter 1 Vertebrate Paleontological Resources in the Historic Section 18 of Mammoth Cave Introduction 18 Results and Discussion of the Historic Section 21 Part I: Audubon Avenue, Broadway, and Main Cave – Faunal resources in main trunk passages between the 24 Historic and Violet City entrances Part II: Faunal resources in side passages of the main trunk 65 Historic Section Interpretation and Conclusions 111 Management Concerns in the Historic Section 134 References Cited 142 Chapter 2 Colossal Cavern 148 Chapter 3 Dead Bat Avenue 154 Chapter 4 Marshall Avenue, Lee Cave 159 Chapter 5 Wilson Cave reconnaissance 167 Chapter 6 Dixon Cave 177 Chapter 7 Re-investigation of a bone deposit in Bat Cave 209 Chapter 8 Re-investigation of Fossil Avenue in the New Discovery Section 225 Chapter 9 Re-investigation of Fox Avenue 239 Chapter 10 Re-investigation of Sophy’s Avenue 246 Chapter 11 An ancient entrance to Frozen Niagara, a preliminary report 253 Chapter 12 Vertebrate fossils found in Proctor Cave 270 Chapter 13 Paleontological investigations of several pits and small caves in 304 Mammoth Cave National Park Mona Colburn – Mammoth Cave Paleontological Inventory: Historic Section of Main Mammoth 3 APPENDICES (Not included for general distribution) Appendix 1 Maps of data point locations in main trunk passages in the Historic Section of Mammoth Cave, between the Historic and Violet City entrances (14 maps) Appendix 2 Maps of data point locations in side passages off of the main trunk in the Historic Section (11 maps) Appendix 3 Map of Wilson Cave (1 map) Appendix 4 Map of Dixon Cave (1 map) Mona Colburn – Mammoth Cave Paleontological Inventory: Historic Section of Main Mammoth 4 Paleontological Inventory Project: Vertebrate Remains Found in Select Passages and Caves at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Without the contributions of many people, this project might be residing in a bottomless pit. My apologies to any individual who is not singled out and felt that he/she should have been -- blame it on too many unplanned cranial contacts with cave structures. Dr. Rickard Toomey and Rickard Olson (Park Ecologist at Mammoth Cave) wrote the proposal for the Paleontological Inventory Project. Toomey initiated the Paleontological Inventory Project when he was at the Illinois State Museum. Before fieldwork was completed, he moved on to the challenges of Kartchner Caverns in the hotter ("yeah, but it's a dry heat") climate of Arizona. The Paleo Project was handed off to Mona Colburn, who completed the fieldwork and analyzed all of the collected samples (except those from Bat Cave) at the Illinois State Museum's Research and Collections Center. While employed on the project, Blaine Schubert assisted with part of the data collecting in Historic Mammoth Cave and Proctor Cave, scanned Historic Section maps provided by the Cave Research Foundation (CRF) and transferred the locations of flagged data points from field maps to electronic maps. He also processed Bat Cave samples and compiled a laundry list of bone identifications and measurements from that site. The National Park Service supported the Paleo Project monetarily and logistically. Many park employees provided enthusiastic support, suggestions, observations, and conversation; and, Chuck DeCroix, Brice Leech, and Colleen O'Connor Olson volunteered time in the field. Mammoth Cave Park Ecologist, Rick Olson, worked closely with the project -- from conception of an idea, to development and proposal writing, to assisting with fieldwork. The support of the Cave Research Foundation is acknowledged. Doug Baker, Scott House, Bob Osburn, Mick Sutton, and Dave West allowed us to use copies of their Mona Colburn – Mammoth Cave Paleontological Inventory: Historic Section of Main Mammoth 5 maps and surveyed unmapped areas in short order. Pat Kambesis (past CRF president), Bob Osburn (Eastern Operations, Chief Cartographer) and Dave West (Eastern Operations Manager) provided a wide variety of support. When requested, Eastern Operations Expedition Leaders supplied enthusiastic field parties and knowledgeable guides for the paleontologists during CRF trips. Numerous Joint Venturers lent their hands, knees, and eyes in the search for paleontological remains during CRF expeditions. CRF members Eric Sikora and Patty Daw volunteered their own time, apart from an expedition. The Illinois State Museum provided supplemental funding and facility support. I would like to thank several volunteers who came via the Illinois State Museum. I especially thank David Schroder, a retired college biology professor and a long-time volunteer of the Illinois State Museum, who was willingly recruited in my hour of need. He has spent many hours helping with fieldwork at Mammoth Cave and with lab work at the Illinois State Museum (sample processing, data entry, and digitizing data point locations onto maps). Lisa Winhold and Pat Kollen assisted in Dixon Cave. John a.k.a. Jack White volunteered in Main Mammoth Cave. Jennifer Ellington helped in the lab. Leslie Cline helped edit portions of the database. Several paleontologists outside of the Illinois State Museum provided a variety of assistance. Dr. Dan Fisher (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) met with me and examined proboscidean remains from Proctor Cave. Frederick Grady (Supervisory Museum Specialist/Vertebrate Paleontology Preparator, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.) took time to verify several identifications for me. Amy Henrici (Scientific Preparator, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh) allowed access to bones collected circa 25 years ago by Ron Wilson that are curated in the Carnegie Museum’s collections. Other paleontologists aided me in my identification of an intriguing bone from Proctor Cave. Crawling like a caver through this report will bring the reader to the answer to the mystery. Bill Simpson (Collections Manager of Fossil Vertebrates, Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) allowed access to Field Museum collections. Dr. Jessica Theodor (Geology Department Curator, Illinois Mona Colburn – Mammoth Cave Paleontological Inventory: Historic Section of Main Mammoth 6 State Museum) transported a specimen to California (so that it would not be irradiated in the mail) where Dr. Blair Van Valkenburgh (University of California at Los Angeles) and Shelley Cox (Collections, George C. Page Museum, Los Angeles) looked at it. Dr. Bonnie Styles (Illinois State Museum Interim Director, and Head of the Science Section), Karli White (Research Associate in Education), and Rick Olson (Mammoth Cave) offered editorial comments on this report. Portions of this report were prepared as part of a Master’s Thesis for the Environmental Studies Department at the University of Illinois, Springfield. I thank my graduate committee, Drs. Tih-Fen Ting, Sharron LaFollette, Lynn Fisher, and Calvin Mouw, for their comments. Dr. Donald A. McFarlane (The Claremont Colleges, California) provided a dead vampire bat for the Illinois State Museum’s comparative collection. Craig Ludwig provided a printout of Mammoth Cave specimens curated in the U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian Institution) in 1996. Ann and Peter Bosted provided the project with photographs taken in Dixon, Long, and Mammoth caves. Gary Berdeaux (Diamond Caverns, Kentucky) took digital images of several interesting areas within the project area. Art Palmer and Peg Palmer accompanied the project on several trips. Their enthusiasm has given me a boost when my own waned. I, along with many others, have been inspired by the Palmer’s long-term dedication to the study of caves. Colleen O'Connor Olson, Rick Olson, and Kitty Pup Olson have been gracious hosts and friends on my many fieldtrips. They are excellent purveyors of the campfire veggie burger and s'mores. In short, the sum of the knowledge, tenacity, enthusiasm, and far-sighted vision of all the above mentioned parties serves to encourage all of us researchers engaged in long-
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