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Dung, diet, and the paleoenvironment of the extinct shrub-ox (Euceratherium Collinum) on the Colorado Plateau, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Manny Kropf ,
Jim I. Mead  and
R. Scott Anderson
Manny Kropf*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Quaternary Paleontology, Quaternary Sciences Program, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Jim I. Mead
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Quaternary Paleontology, Quaternary Sciences Program, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA Department of Geology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
R. Scott Anderson
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Quaternary Paleontology, Quaternary Sciences Program, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA Center for Environmental Sciences and Education, and Quaternary Sciences Program, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. 780 South 9th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701, USA. E-mail address:[email protected] (M. Kropf).
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Abstract

Fossil remains of Euceratherium collinum (extinct shrub-ox) have been found throughout North America, including the Grand Canyon. Recent finds from the Escalante River Basin in southern Utah further extend the animal's range into the heart of the Colorado Plateau. E. collinum teeth and a metapodial condyle (foot bone) have been recovered in association with large distinctively shaped dung pellets, a morphology similar to a ‘Hershey's Kiss’ (HK), from a late Pleistocene dung layer in Bechan Cave. HK dung pellets have also been recovered from other alcoves in the Escalante River Basin including Willow and Fortymile canyons. Detailed analyses of the HK pellets confirmed them to be E. collinum and indicate a browser-type diet dominated (> 95%) by trees and shrubs: Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush), Acacia sp. (acacia), Quercus (oak), and Chrysothamnus (rabbit brush). The retrieval of spring and fall pollen suggests E. collinum was a year-round resident in the Escalante River Basin.

Keywords

PleistoceneDungBechan CaveEscalante River BasinEuceratheriumPaleoenvironmentMicrohistologyPollen
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 143 - 151
Copyright
University of Washington

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