Mammoths, Mastodonts, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior and the Fossil RecordThe diminishing population of African and Asian elephants can be compared to the extinction of other elephant-like species, such as mammoths and mastodonts, which occurred more than ten thousand years ago. The purpose of this book is to use the ecology and behavior of modern elephants to create models for reconstructing the life and death of extinct mammoths and mastodonts. The source of the models is a long-term and continuing study of elephants in Zimbabwe, Africa. These models are clearly described with respect to the anatomical, behavioral, and ecological similarities between past and present proboscideans. The implications of these similarities on the life and death of mammoths and mastodonts is explored in detail. The importance of this book is primarily its unifying perspective on living and extinct proboscideans: the fossil record is closely examined and compared to the natural history of surviving elephants. Dr. Haynes's studies of the places where African elephants die (so-called elephant burial grounds) are unique. |
Contents
Taxonomy classification of fossil and living forms | 3 |
Physical appearance mammoths mastodonts and modern elephants | 10 |
A referential model for understanding mammoths and mastodonts social structure and habitat use by modern elephants | 56 |
Actualistic studies of mass deaths | 111 |
Actualistic studies of mass kills | 177 |
Finding meaning in proboscidean sites the world fossil record | 195 |
Extinction in North America at the end of the Pleistocene | 264 |
Final words | 318 |
Methods for determining age in proboscideans | 321 |
| 354 | |
| 397 | |
Other editions - View all
Mammoths, Mastodonts, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior and the Fossil Record Gary Haynes No preview available - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
1987 personal communication adult females adult males African elephants age classes age profiles animals archeological areas artifacts Asian elephants behavior Berelyokh Beryozovka bison body bone assemblages broken butchering Camelops carcasses carnivores Clovis points Clovis sites contain cull death deposits die-off drought dry season elephant bones elephant populations epiphyseal fusion epiphyses extinct feeding femur Figure flakes fossil record fractured fragments fused Garutt giraffe gomphotheres groups habitats Haynes unpublished data human Humerus hunters hunting Hwange National Park hyenas ivory Late Glacial late Pleistocene limb bones Loxodonta mammals mammoth bones mammoths and mastodonts Mammut americanum Mammuthus columbi Mammuthus primigenius mass matriarchs meat migrate mixed herds modern elephants moose musth noncultural North America numbers predation preserved proboscidean ranges relatively result sample Saunders sediments seeps Shabi Shabi Shakwanki Shoshani similar skeletons skull specimens studies subadults surface Table taxa teeth tooth trampling tusks Vereshchagin water sources wear Zimbabwe
Popular passages
Page 355 - EL SEGUNDO MAMUT FOSIL DE SANTA ISABEL IZTAPAN, MEXICO, Y ARTEFACTOS ASOCIADOS.
Page 355 - A. Hall-Martin; and DA RusselL 1985. Long-bone circumference and weight in mammals, birds and dinosaurs, Journal of Zoology, London A 207: 53-61.
Page 356 - Barnes, RFW 1982. Mate searching behaviour of elephant bulls in a semiarid environment.