Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/10316/96445
Title: | First tracks of newborn straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) | Authors: | Neto de Carvalho, Carlos Belaústegui, Zain Toscano, Antonio Muñiz, Fernando Belo, João Galán, Jose María Gómez, Paula Cáceres, Luis M Rodríguez-Vidal, Joaquín Cunha, Pedro Proença Cachão, Mario Ruiz, Francisco Ramirez-Cruzado, Samuel Giles-Guzmán, Francisco Finlayson, Geraldine Finlayson, Stewart Finlayson, Clive |
Issue Date: | 15-Nov-2021 | Project: | UIDB/04292/2020 | Serial title, monograph or event: | Scientific Reports | Volume: | 11 | Issue: | 1 | Abstract: | Tracks and trackways of newborns, calves and juveniles attributed to straight-tusked elephants were found in the MIS 5 site (Upper Pleistocene) known as the Matalascañas Trampled Surface (MTS) at Huelva, SW Spain. Evidence of a snapshot of social behaviour, especially parental care, can be determined from the concentration of elephant tracks and trackways, and especially from apparently contemporaneous converging trackways, of small juvenile and larger, presumably young adult female tracks. The size frequency of the tracks enabled us to infer body mass and age distribution of the animals that crossed the MTS. Comparisons of the MTS demographic frequency with the morphology of the fore- and hind limbs of extant and fossil proboscideans shed light into the reproductive ecology of the straight-tusked elephant, Palaeloxodon antiquus. The interdune pond habitat appeared to have been an important water and food resource for matriarchal herds of straight-tusked elephants and likely functioned as a reproductive habitat, with only the rare presence of adult and older males in the MTS. The preservation of this track record in across a paleosol surface, although heavily trampled by different animals, including Neanderthals, over a short time frame, permitted an exceptional view into short-term intraspecific trophic interactions occurring in the Last Interglacial coastal habitat. Therefore, it is hypothesized that Neanderthals visited MTS for hunting or scavenging on weakened or dead elephants, and more likely calves. | URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/10316/96445 | ISSN: | 2045-2322 | DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-021-96754-1 | Rights: | openAccess |
Appears in Collections: | I&D CGUC - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais I&D MARE - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
s41598-021-96754-1.pdf | 9.97 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
SCOPUSTM
Citations
7
checked on May 27, 2024
WEB OF SCIENCETM
Citations
8
checked on Jun 2, 2024
Page view(s)
219
checked on Oct 16, 2024
Download(s)
201
checked on Oct 16, 2024
Google ScholarTM
Check
Altmetric
Altmetric
This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License