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Fossil Mammoths from Santa Cruz Island, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Cushing
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta Del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, California 93105
Marla Daily
Affiliation:
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta Del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, California 93105
Elmer Noble
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
V. Louise Roth
Affiliation:
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta Del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, California 93105 Division of Mammals, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560
Adrian Wenner
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta Del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, California 93105

Abstract

Mammoth remains on Santa Cruz Island, one of the four Northern Channel Islands of California, are very sparse, in marked contrast to those reported from Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands of the same island group. A probable major reason for this scarcity is that Quaternary deposits are greatly restricted on Santa Cruz Island. It is proposed, contrary to popular opinion, that fossils found on Santa Cruz Island were derived from animals which died on the island, and were not transported there by humans. Reasons for this conclusion are that the size and geological context of the fossils are similar to those of the largest mammoth fossils of Santa Rosa Island, and that, in spite of extensive investigations by many persons, mammoth remains have not been found in middens, either on the islands or on the adjacent mainland.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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