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Evidence for the diet and habitat of two late Pleistocene mastodons from the Midwest, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2018

Hilary H. Birks ,
Bas van Geel ,
Daniel C. Fisher ,
Eric C. Grimm ,
Wim J. Kuijper ,
Jan van Arkel  and
Guido B.A. van Reenen
Hilary H. Birks*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Postboks 7803, N-5020 Bergen, Norway
Bas van Geel
Affiliation:
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Daniel C. Fisher
Affiliation:
Museum of Paleontology and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, 1105 North University Ave., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1085, USA
Eric C. Grimm
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
Wim J. Kuijper
Affiliation:
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
Jan van Arkel
Affiliation:
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Guido B.A. van Reenen
Affiliation:
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, the Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Biological Sciences and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Postboks 7803, N-5020 Bergen, Norway. E-mail address: hilary.birks@uib.no (H.H. Birks).
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Abstract

We analyzed intestinal contents of two late-glacial mastodons preserved in lake sediments in Ohio (Burning Tree mastodon) and Michigan (Heisler mastodon). A multi-proxy suite of macrofossils and microfossils provided unique insights into what these individuals had eaten just before they died and added significantly to knowledge of mastodon diets. We reconstructed the mastodons’ habitats with similar multi-proxy analyses of the embedding lake sediments. Non-pollen palynomorphs, especially spores of coprophilous fungi differentiated intestinal and environmental samples. The Burning Tree mastodon gut sample originates from the small intestine. The Heisler mastodon sample is part of the large intestine to which humans had added clastic material to anchor parts of the carcass under water to cache the meat. Both carcasses had been dismembered, suggesting that the mastodons had been hunted or scavenged, in line with other contemporaneous mastodon finds and the timing of early human incursion into the Midwest. Both mastodons lived in mixed coniferous-deciduous late-glacial forests. They browsed tree leaves and twigs, especially Picea. They also ate sedge-swamp plants and drank the lake water. Our multi-proxy estimates for a spring/summer season of death contrast with autumn estimates derived from prior tusk analyses. We document the recovered fossil remains with photographs.

Keywords

DietLate glacialMacrofossilsMastodonsMidwest, USANon-pollen palynomorphsPollen
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 91 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 792 - 812
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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